Mark Dantonio made it clear before his Michigan State team took on Indiana that LJ Scott would play against the Hoosiers on Saturday just days after his arrest Wednesday.

Scott was arrested when he was pulled over and charged for driving without a valid license for the seventh time. Dantonio said in a statement Friday that Scott's legal issues had been resolved, but the junior running back's playing time would be affected Saturday.

It turns out that meant Scott had to sit out just one drive, as he was on the field for the Spartans' second possession after Madre London started the game, and Dantonio defended that decision following a 17-9 win Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

"I guess the best way to say it is, young people are going to make mistakes, but they're my young people," Dantonio said. "It's like my family, so you're going to try and take care of those guys, try and usher them forward and try and help them resolve their issues as best you can.

"Ultimately, sometimes you're put in situations where you have to make very tough decisions. However, this was not one of them. It felt like he got a speeding ticket. Everything else was sort of in order."

Dantonio said "it's a long story" as to how Scott ended up being arrested Wednesday. The short story is that Scott's license was suspended because of an unpaid ticket, and he accepted a plea deal Friday, according to MLive. Following the Indiana game, during which Scott ran for 87 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, Dantonio didn't want to go in to all the details, but he said he and the MSU staff had been working with Scott on the long process of getting his license back.

"It's not like we weren't on it," Dantonio said. "I watched him parallel park and all that kind of stuff. He did very well. This was a while ago, so we're just trying to complete the circle for our players. I know publicly it's tough to look at sometimes, but they're our players. They're my players. I've got a personal relationship with these guys, and their mothers and their families.

"Sometimes you have to make gut calls and look at it in that capacity, and that's what I did. He paid for it through public ridicule, certainly, and he paid financially, certainly, and he paid a little bit in terms of on the field, but we needed him to play, too. We need to move forward."

Scott, to his credit, faced the media Saturday night and said he was not embarrassed at all by the events of the last few days. Instead, he said he thought "a lot of people just didn't know what happened."

"It was just communication between me and the Secretary of State," Scott said. "I'm just glad to have it all cleared up. Make sure nothing like that happens again."

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