Did we hear him correctly? No practice this week?

EAST LANSING – The reaction was a happy one, though Ken Mannie may well turn those cheers to gasps for air this week.

“It was a pretty loud roar,” MSU junior defensive back Demetrious Cox of coach Mark Dantonio’s announcement last week that this week will include zero practices. “A lot of guys kind of need it, kind of want it.”

Dantonio said after Saturday’s 52-26 win over Indiana that this will be the first time he’s had no practices during an off week. But No. 6 MSU (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) also happens to be the most injury-plagued team he’s ever coached.

When MSU returns to action in a Nov. 7 night game at Nebraska (3-5, 1-3), it expects to have All-America center Jack Allen back from an ankle injury he suffered late in an Oct. 10 win at Rutgers. Junior cornerback Darian Hicks (concussion) also should return, while starting running back Madre London (leg) is a possibility as well.

If Allen’s back, MSU will have its offensive line intact for the first time since early in the season’s second game. Dantonio doesn’t want to jeopardize the health turnaround with practice, though he will leave the players in the hands of Mannie, MSU’s head strength coach.

“We need to heal up,” Dantonio said. “We've got a lot of guys banged up. We cannot take the risk to practice this week and then, all of a sudden, have more guys hurt. Guys get hurt during practice. What we will do is lift our guys, run our guys as if it is (Mannie’s) summer conditioning program. We'll have guys in great shape, which is the number one reason to me that we practice. We'll also have our guys healthy. We'll get some guys back. Jack Allen should be back….

“We'll be able to start on Nebraska from a coaching standpoint, this week, and from a player standpoint, on Sunday. We will be ahead going to Nebraska, but I think we just need to back off a little bit. Our practices seem to be a little competitive.”