NCAA football: Michigan State vs. Wisconsin - September 24, 2016

Michigan State quarterback Tyler O'Connor (7) throws a pass from the end zone in the fourth quarter of their Big Ten football game against Wisconsin at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, on Saturday, September 24, 2016. Wisconsin won the game, 30-6.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING -- After the dust settled on Saturday's 30-6 Michigan State loss to Wisconsin, Mark Dantonio's thoughts about his quarterback situation hadn't changed.

"At this point in time there is no quarterback controversy," Dantonio said on Sunday night. "Now there may become one at some point. It's about production. But there were a lot of things that entered into this one yesterday."

That message was largely the same as it was after Tyler O'Connor's three-interception performance against the Badgers. Michigan State is not considering a change before Saturday's trip to Indiana, but Dantonio acknowledges his senior starter needs to play better than he did against Wisconsin.

A day removed from the game, Dantonio was able to to better assess what exactly went wrong on a day O'Connor went 18 for 38 for 224 yards, with no touchdowns and those three interceptions.

Dantonio first pointed to issues with Wisconsin's pressure. According to Pro Football Focus, O'Connor faced pressure on 51.1 percent of his dropbacks. Dantonio said some of that pressure was due to mistakes from the offensive line, but some were chalked up to running backs missing assignments and structural issues.

Dantonio also pointed toward receivers being unable to break through some press coverage and some strong short-yardage coverage that forced difficult decisions for O'Connor.

"It's an accumulation of everything that's involved in offensive football, I think," Dantonio said. "And things just didn't go well. Games change sometimes on a whim."

In a 15-minute conversation with reporters, Dantonio heard four questions about his quarterback situation. While he tried to spread the blame out, including to the coaching staff, he knows his quarterback situation is the dominant storyline as Michigan State tries to move on from its first home loss since November 2014.

"The quarterback is gonna get more criticism and more praise probably than he deserves, on both ends of the stick," Dantonio said. "But that's the nature of college football and football in general and you have to be able to accept that in a position of leadership, including the head coach."

Michigan State fans also got their first glimpse of a potential replacement should it make a change at the position, when redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke took over the final series of the game. (junior Damion Terry was injured and unavailable, Dantonio said.)

Lewerke went 2 for 4 on the drive with a drop, but Dantonio also referenced an interception negated by a penalty, calling it a "poor throw" and a "poor decision."

"He needs to get better," Dantonio said. "He'll have his opportunities as the season moves forward."