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Dantonio knows one favorite: MSU

It wouldn’t be Big Ten football without some good old Michigan-Michigan State smack-talk, right?

OK, so it wasn’t exactly smack and no, it wasn’t started from the coaches, in this case Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio. I say this because people often ask me why he always brings up Michigan. Well, he usually doesn’t. Nine times out of 10 he’s responding to a question from a reporter.

Anyway, at the Big Ten media days in Chicago on Thursday, Dantonio was asked about Michigan begin picked to win the Legends Division over Michigan State, despite a four-game winning streak for the Spartans.

“Well, why do you guys bring that up on me?” he said with a smile. “I would just say they’ve been favored pretty much the last four years. Competitive game. Big rival game. They do an outstanding job there. But it only matters: Are they favored or not in the locker room? And in our locker room, they won’t be favored. So we’ll start with that.”

So there you have it Wolverines. I’m sure you’ll jump all over it. And there you have it Spartans, I’m sure you’ll jump as well. Point is, it will all be settled Oct. 20.

Or will it? Yeah, probably not.

Matt Charboneau
Matt Charboneau has been with The Detroit News since 2006, first as an assistant sports editor and as the Michigan State beat reporter since 2010.

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