CHICAGO — Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio took a drive with his mother where he grew up in Zanesville, Ohio, a few weeks ago.
They drove around the places Dantonio liked to go as a kid. He visited former high school coach Ron Apperson. Dantonio knows where he came from. It’s familiar territory.
Big Ten Media Days weren’t much different. The Spartans are the defending conference champions but are picked behind Ohio State and Michigan in most preseason publications. The first time Dantonio was told nobody voted for the Spartans, he quipped, "I didn’t vote for any of the reporters, either.