INDIANAPOLIS The Michigan State bus turned the corner on the wintry slick street Friday afternoon and within full view of everybody was the massive edifice thats Lucas Oil Stadium site of Saturday nights Big Ten championship showdown.
At that instant the moment hit home.
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Coach Mark Dantonio pointed to the stadium and told his players that they had been there before.
There was a Hoosiers parallel when coach Norman Dale took his fictional Hickory High basketball team from a little farm town to the big city and the massive Butler arena for the Indiana state championship game in the 1950s. Dale brought a tape measure to show his potentially intimidated players that the basket wasnt any higher in the 10 000 seat Hinkle Fieldhouse than it was in their quaint lgym in Hickory.
Dantonio must keep reminding everyone that Michigan State belongs that the Spartans have earned a voice in the larger football discussion.
Dream big Dantonio said. I tell our guys that all the time. The only way that you can accomplish great things is to at first be confident that you can attain greatness.
The Spartans were likely destined for their first BCS appearance regardless of the outcome against Ohio State. Northern Illinois loss in the MAC championship game at Ford Field should eliminate the non automatic qualifying conferences from consideration for an at large BCS bowl invitation.
A long awaited introduction to the BCS would be a significant achievement for the Spartans worthy of Dantonio awarding more nails to players.
Nails
The coaches hand out nails to guys after a win said senior safety Isaiah Lewis because were hammering them in to finish what we started building.
Theres plenty of construction remaining because decent its recent run Michigan State still is not an elite program. Ohio State is the only Big Ten program that remotely qualifies as nationally elite at the moment.
But MSU keeps pushing itself into the discussion regarding the conferences second tier with Wisconsin. Three 11 win seasons in four years and the possibility of a top 10 finish in the final polls as well as a 2014 preseason top 10 ranking are all telling indicators of a program gaining momentum.
Continuity becomes important now making double digit winning seasons the rule.
Respect has come gradually for us Dantonio said. But its a never ending proposition. You cant have a situation where you feel that youve attained a goal and thats the finish line. Theres got to be another goal and then another goal and then another that keeps you driving hard. We dont want a program in which were satisfied about where were at. We want to keep pushing forward.
Another sign of Michigan States growing stature would be selling defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi that being Dantonios designated heir apparent is better than taking over and rebuilding an average midlevel program. Narduzzi generally is regarded as one of the hotter head coaching prospects out there.
But can MSU become financially creative enough to keep him in East Lansing indefinitely with the assurance that whenever Dantonio walks away Narduzzi would get the keys to a car already engineered to reach top speeds rather than him taking the risky chance of building a car that might still only go backward
Virginia Tech did it with longtime Frank Beamer lieutenant Bud Foster the Hokies defensive coordinator. He stayed when mentioned for head coaching openings at Clemson and West Virginia because hes confident that Beamer created something that could endure.
Thats the most important goal of all for the Spartans.
Contact Drew Sharp dsharp freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter drewsharp.
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