The Spartans, who won all their Big Ten games by double digits last year, play nasty defense, go all-out on special teams and operate opportunistically on offense.

“I see good years and great years ahead for Michigan State,” said BTN analyst Glen Mason, a former assistant to Woody Hayes at Ohio State who as a head coach built Kansas and Minnesota into solid programs.

“Coaches come in two types — schemers and fundamentalists. It doesn’t matter how you do it if you get it done. But typically schemers have highs and big lows. With fundamentalists, there are highs but not the real big lows. That’s Mark.”

Dantonio isn’t the kind to say “I told you so.” But he predicted success at Michigan State on the day he was hired in November 2006. He wore the national title ring he had earned as an assistant to Tressel at Ohio State in 2002 to his opening MSU press conference.

“When we came here, I talked about winning championships,” Dantonio said, before adding with a wry smile, “Let’s just say there was a lot of doubt.”

In fact, some MSU backers called him “crazy.” It came from the “Same Old Spartans” crowd.