DALLAS -- Michigan State and Baylor both plan on playing a physical brand of football and having their preparation peak on Thursday, when they meet in the Cotton Bowl.

But the schools and their coaches are taking vastly different approaches toward reaching their goal.

Coach Art Briles said Baylor got most of its work done on Michigan State before the Bears arrived in Dallas last Friday.

Mark Dantonio gave his team five days off before meeting and practicing the day the team arrived in Dallas last Friday.

Dantonio said the Spartans have needed some long, hard practices in Dallas to knock the dust off the rust in the days leading up to Thursday's 12:30 p.m. showdown at AT&T Stadium.

It would be hard to challenge either coach on his approach, considering the success No. 5-ranked Baylor (11-1) and No. 8-ranked Michigan State (10-2) have enjoyed of late.

"It is all done, we've been finished up for I'd say at least a week,'' Briles said upon the Bears' arrival last Friday, asked how much of Baylor's MSU preparation was done in Waco. "We might fine-tune a few things in the next three or four days, but we're locked down and ready to go ... ''

That might have something to do with how new Bears coordinator Kendal Briles was able to simplify Michigan State's defensive scheme to his players.

"As far as scheme goes,'' said All-American offensive tackle Spencer Drango, "it's fairly simple."

Dantonio, meanwhile, has been pushing the Spartans through 2 1/2-hour workouts in pads in an effort to get his team mentally and physically ready for Baylor's fast-break offense, which is the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation.

"It was a long practice, which we're going to need to play well in the game on Thursday,'' Dantonio said following practice at AT&T Stadium. "You've got to have your legs, but I think we never stopped conditioning a little bit because Baylor is a team that's going to run it. Our whole system has to be conditioning, mental conditioning as much as anything.''

Baylor worked in helmets, shoulder pads with no lower-body pads and no hitting.

"We kind of think we're physical,'' Art Briles said after Sunday's practice. "I don't know what defines physical, but I think being able to rush the football might determine that.. We've led the Big 12 in rushing throughout the last four years.

"I think physical starts in the mind and works through the body. We're a physical football team.''

Drango, one of the most highly rated NFL offensive line prospects in the nation, explained that the Bears go out with high rushing goals in mind.

"We do like to run the ball, and people don't think about that,'' Drango said. "As an offensive line, if we don't have a good day running we're not happy. We could win by 50, but for me, I like to see us get 250 (yards) every game, and some games we've fallen short and some days we've exceeded.

"But we like to run the ball, we're physical up front, and it will be fun matchup for us.''

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