Chris Solari and Lansing State Journal sports columnist Graham Couch preview Michigan State University vs. Washington State in Thursday's Holiday Bowl. Chris Solari/Detroit Free Press/Graham Couch/LSJ
SAN DIEGO – Mark Dantonio took his players bowling, even before Michigan State's turnaround football season began.
It was a team bonding exercise to improve chemistry. They formed teams by position groups. Yes, it was friendly competition, but college athletes are wired to take each other to task over everything from video games to basketball.
“We’ve gotten back to normal — back to laughing, back to loving this game of football and letting our young people be young people and not lecturing them all the time and all that kind of stuff,” Dantonio said in late July.