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Michigan St. Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio pledged that the team will not quit, reports Mike Griffith at Mlive.com. Praising his team's determination in Saturday's 16-13 win over the then-No. 25 Wisconsin Badgers, the coach wanted fans to know they were going to stick with things:
"We've been close, and what I'd like to say is basically, we're not going to quit,'' Dantonio said. "I said that last week [after 12-10 loss to Michigan], we won't quit on people. We've always hung in there and that's a tribute to our team leadership on our football team and our chemistry as a group of people and as individuals.''
Michigan State has been on the wrong end of a number of very close games in 2012, losing to the Ohio St. Buckeyes by one, the Iowa Hawkeyes by a field goal in double overtime and the Michigan Wolverines by just two points. Those narrow losses plus a loss to Notre Dame have left the Spartans at 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten.
The Spartans have excelled on defense this year, holding opponents to an average of 15 points per game. They'll need a strong effort on Saturday, when the Spartans host the No. 20 Nebraska Cornhuskers, who are averaging 39.3 points scored per game.