Talk about officially calling his team out!
Michigan State Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio wasn’t pleased with how his offensive unit performed on Friday night in his team’s opener against Tulsa, and he made sure that everyone knew about it.
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“Football is a game of effort, toughness and knowing what to do. Half of our team figured that out, half of it didn’t,” Dantonio said. “We will make sure that other half gets it figured out this week. That’s my message to our football team.”
Michigan State’s defense was the complete opposite, however. Tulsa was held to negative-73 rushing yards in the game and broken a school record that had stood since 1950. Last year, Michigan State led the country in rushing yards allowed per game at 77.9 yards.
However, their offense was lacking last year, and Friday night didn’t give any indicators that it was going to change any time soon. The Spartans managed just 108 yards on 40 attempts, with the backfield combining for only 68 yards on 30 carries.
“Not good enough,” Dantonio said. “We’ve got to get on the right people. You’ve got to know where to go, you’ve got to play with effort and toughness. Too much of that to me was lacking. I’m going to call it as I see it up here right now, going to send a message to our football team. We have a long season ahead of us. We can play much better than that.
“I was disappointed in the effort when I see guys running routes that are not at full speed. I see guys blocking at the point of attack, throwing a shoulder in there, not addressing a defender, can’t happen. We’ve predicated ourselves on being tough here any way you cut it. That message is going to get sent, whether it’s public or not.”
The Spartans host the Western Michigan Broncos in East Lansing on Saturday.
