Mark Dantonio reacts to Michigan State fans booing during Eastern Michigan game

Hardly pleased by his players' performance on the field as of late to begin with, Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio informed MLive's Diamond Leung on Tuesday that he is not too happy about his fans showering the team with boos during Saturday's win over Eastern Michigan.

"I think the crowd has got to remain positive obviously through thick and thin, especially during the thin times," Dantonio said. "I think that’s just the way you’ve got to go sometimes. If you’re a Spartan, that’s what you do."

Though Michigan State walked out of Spartan Stadium with a 23-7 victory over a well-coached Eagles program, a number of fans still made sure they let players and coaches know of their displeasure with Eastern's 7-3 halftime advantage. And as far as Dantonio is concerned, reactions like this aren't going to help anybody going forward.

"I know that there’s frustration out there, but we’ve won 16 out of 17 games in this stadium, so I think we’re working at it, and it’s frustrating for all of us as indicated," he said. "It just happens in the society we live in right now. When we did catch the one pass, they would give you the Bronx cheer."

Dantonio's 3-1 Spartans will hit the field this weekend to face an Ohio State team that has looked quite impressive thus far with sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller running the show. Regardless of whether they have been muted or not by Dantonio's comments, tens of thousands of raucous fans will once again line Spartan Stadium on Saturday desperate for another victory.

College Football Rankings, Week 5: Michigan State Up To No. 18, Michigan Dropped From Top 25

Michigan State moved up two spots to No. 18 in the most recent coaches' poll, while Brady Hoke's Wolverines were dropped completely out of the top 25 after losing to Notre Dame.

College GameDay Coming To Michigan State For Ohio State Game

ESPN announced on Sunday that College Gameday will be in East Lansing next week for the No. 20 Michigan State Spartans against the No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes.

The Network noted that Gameday has been in East Lansing five times previously with the following results:

10/22/11 - (16) Michigan State def. (6) Wisconsin, 37-31
11/9/05 - (5) Penn State def. Michigan State, 22-21
9/18/04 - Notre Dame def. Michigan State, 31-24
10/9/99 - (11) Michigan State def. (3) Michigan, 34-31
10/25/97 - (5) Michigan def. (14) Michigan State, 23-7

Gameday begins airing live at 9 a.m. on ESPNU and then at 10 a.m. on ESPN. Chris Vannini of Michigan State blog The Only Colors noted that although Big Ten football hasn't exactly been stellar to this point in the season, ESPN didn't have many other marquee matchups to choose from for next week:

If you're wondering why Gameday is subjecting itself to Big Ten football, check out the schedule of games. Where else were they going to go? Tennessee at Georgia? Texas at Oklahoma State? Wisconsin at Nebraska? MSU/OSU is the only matchup between two ranked teams.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

NCAA Football Rankings, Week 5: Michigan Falls Out of AP Rankings, Michigan State Up One Spot

Michigan falls out of the AP Top 25, helping Michigan State move up one spot in the poll.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State 2012: Le'Veon Bell Carries Spartans Past Early Struggles

The Michigan State Spartans struggled early but followed the effort of running back Le'Veon Bell to victory Saturday, defeating the Eastern Michigan Eagles, 23-7.

Bell finished the game with a career high 253 rushing yards and one touchdown on 36 attempts, an average of seven yards per carry. In a game where Michigan State trailed at halftime, Chris Vannini of SB Nation's Michigan State Spartans blog, The Only Colors, writes that Bell is the absolute only offensive option the team has.

Le'Veon Bell has to do everything - On the ground, he finished with 253 yards on 36 carries and one late touchdown to put things away. That's 7.0 yards per rush against the worst rush defense in FBS. After Nick Hill fumbled a punt return, Bell was put back there. He had three returns for 18 yards. This is not ideal, but it appears the coaches don't trust anyone else.

Michigan State's next contest comes at home against No. 16 Ohio State.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State Final Score: Spartans Find Offense, Win 23-7

It took them a couple quarters, but No. 21 Michigan St. managed to find their offense and pull out a win over unranked Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Le'Veon Bell carried the rock a whopping 36 times for 253 yards. Still, he only managed one touchdown on the day, and it wasn't until the very end of the fourth quarter after MSU really started to get their offense going.

The Spartans were trailing heading into the second half, when Eastern Michigan took a Bennie Fowler fumble and turned it into a 23-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Benz to Donald Scott. It was their only score of the day, and their only bright spot on offense. They only managed 137 yards passing and 46 yards rushing altogether, and only kept this one close due to a strong defense in the first half.

After only netting a Dan Conroy field goal in the first half (Conroy also missed one in the first quarter, from 39 yards out), the Spartans managed 20 points in quarters two and three. Conroy was good from 35-yards and 44 yards in the third quarter, while Andrew Maxwell hit Dion Simms for a 10-yard touchdown in the fourth. That, coupled with the Bell touchdown in the final three minutes, was what the Spartans were able to do offensively.

Next week, the Spartans will have a tough matchup in No. 16 Ohio St., while Eastern Michigan will take on Kent State.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State Score: Spartans Hold Narrow 9-7 Lead Through Three Quarters

No. 21 Michigan St. has their hands full with the unranked and winless Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday. Through three quarters, they're leading by a score of 9-7. They're playing well on defense, having only allowed a touchdown when Tyler Benz hit Donald Scott for a 23-yard touchdown pass on the first play following a fumble.

The Spartans just can't get anything going on offense. Dan Conroy did miss a 39-yard field goal early on in the game, but a 12-7 lead over the Eagles isn't exactly ideal, either. All 9 points have come off of field goals, with Conroy hitting two from 35 yards and one from 44 yards out.

Andrew Maxwell is having a poor day at quarterback for the Spartans. He's 12-for-24 for just 70 yards, at an average of 2.9 yards per pass. Le'Veon Bell is the only bright spot on MSU's offense, running the ball 26 times for 157 yards, but they've been unable to finish out drives to this point.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State Score: Spartans Trail, 7-3, At Halftime

After a scoreless first quarter, we finally had some action between No. 21 Michigan St. and Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Spartans, it's the Eagles who are out in front at halftime, holding a 7-3 advantage. After a turnover in MSU territory (a Bennie Fowler fumble, recovered by Justin Cudworth), quarterback Tyler Benz hit Donald Scott for a 23-yard touchdown to make the score 7-3.

The Spartans finished the first quarter at the start of a promising drive, as running back Le'Veon Bell had notched just their fifth first down of the day. Andrew Maxwell got the second quarter started off the right way, though, hitting Bennie Fowler for a 15-yard reception. A couple plays later, Bell hit a 15-yard run and Dan Conroy kicked a 35-yard field goal to make it 3-0.

Conroy had previously missed one from 39 yards. Michigan State will need to do a better job of extending their drives in the second half, given that they've been holding Eastern Michigan just fine on offense. They'll be kicking themselves big time if they manage to lose thanks to a fumble.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State Score: Game Scoreless Through 1st Quarter

Through one quarter of play, No. 21 Michigan State hasn't managed to put up points against unranked Eastern Michigan, and the game remains tied at 0-0. The Spartans have only managed five first downs, two of which came on a drive that stalled in Eastern Michigan territory. Unfortunately, Dan Conroy managed to miss the 39-yard field goal that would have put the Spartans up by three points.

Their defense is playing well, though, as they've only allowed a single Eastern Michigan first down, which came on their first possession of the day. Their biggest gain was a 9-yard run from Javonti Greene, but they managed to follow that up with two rushes for no gain and were forced to punt.

The first quarter came to an end with Michigan State back in their own territory, after picking up their fifth first down following two strong rushes from Le'Veon Bell. One of them was 9 yards, the other for 5. We'll see if they can turn it into points in the second quarter.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State: Will Gholston Doesn't Start For Spartans

The Michigan St. Spartans got their game against Eastern Michigan started without defensive end Will Gholston. It was reported before the start of the game that Gholston wouldn't make the start, but that he would dress for the Spartans.

Josh Slagter of MLive.com had the initial report, in which he noted that Gholston's status, as far as playing time in general is concerned, is unknown.

Gholston did, in fact, dress for the game, but he has yet to see playing time. The first quarter is almost up at the time of this writing, and Gholston's name is nowhere on the play-by-play. Shilique Calhoun made the start in place of Gholston, and also has not been on any tackles or big plays thus far.

During the week, Gholston's absence in practice wasn't widely reported, and it's unclear why he missed so much time. That was cited as the reason for him not being the starter on Saturday but, at this point, it doesn't look as though it was injury-related.

For more on the Michigan State Spartans, go to The Only Colors. You can learn more about college football around the country over at SB Nation's College Football hub.

Eastern Michigan Vs. Michigan State 2012: TV Schedule, Game Time, Spread And More

Desperate to erase memories of their 20-3 loss to Notre Dame, the Michigan State Spartans will hit the field with a vengeance on Saturday against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Spartan Stadium.

Head coach Mark Dantonio's defense still managed to hold the Irish to just 1-for-14 on third down conversions in the loss, but the team was hard-pressed to duplicate the same type of success on the offensive side of the ball. Tailback Le'Veon Bell remains one of Dantonio's biggest weapons, and will need to be more of a presence in the run game after only racking up 77 yards on 19 carries last week.

The winless Eagles suffered a 38-point blowout loss to Purdue in Week 3, and will enter as one of the worst passing offenses in the country with only 158.3 yards per game through the air. Though it would be a significant letdown by the Spartans in a game that they absolutely cannot afford to lose, Dantonio should have no trouble riding Bell to victory against a lackluster Eastern Michigan defense.

Game time: 3:30 p.m. ET

TV channel: Big Ten Network

Spread: Michigan State - 28.5

Be sure to visit The Only Colors for more news on Michigan State, and check out Hustle Belt for more Eastern Michigan coverage. Also visit SB Nation's college football hub for more news from around the country.

Michigan State Vs. Eastern Michigan: Spartans Ready To 'Show A Response' To Loss To Notre Dame

Mark Dantonio's Spartans are hoping for a bounce-back game this weekend against Eastern Michigan in East Lansing.