Instant impact

EAST LANSING - It took a day like Oct. 14, 2006, for Michigan State to find its way to a day like today.

That was a 38-7 loss to Ohio State at a Spartan Stadium teeming with about 20,000 Buckeyes fans - and nothing but scarlet, gray and "O-H-I-O!" chants in the stands by midway through the second half.

This is the most significant game at Spartan Stadium in at least five years. No. 12 OSU (6-1 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 20 MSU (6-1, 3-0). First place in the Big Ten at stake. A "program game" with national interest reflected in a jam-packed press box.

A stadium full of MSU fans, loudly imploring second-year coach Mark Dantonio's team to reach heights few thought possible this early in his tenure.

"I can only imagine how it will be," Dantonio said of today's atmosphere.

With the basic philosophy that physical toughness translates into mental toughness, Dantonio has quickly revamped a program that was short in both areas when he arrived.

He is 13-7 through 20 games, with all seven losses by a touchdown or less. MSU is running the football, playing better defense, taking a serious approach against lesser teams and believing it can beat anyone.

"I can't say enough for what he's done for this program," MSU senior defensive tackle Justin Kershaw, a native of Columbus, Ohio, said of Dantonio. "This is a special team we have, and it starts with our leader. ... We're expecting to win."

The fans are responding as well, buying more season tickets than MSU anticipated. Sales of the suites and club seats are stable despite a steadily declining economic climate.

It's a situation, on and off the field, that would have been difficult for anyone at MSU to envision just two years ago.

Red Saturday

MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo was there, frustrated from the start by all the MSU fans who had obviously sold their tickets to OSU fans.

"I was ticked at our people," he said.

The No. 1 Buckeyes were expected to pummel John L. Smith's collapsing Spartans, and they did. MSU fans booed their team heavily at halftime - then most of them left.

That snapshot of apathy was instrumental in the firing of Smith less than three weeks later, and it stayed with those in the MSU camp who endured it.

"I sat for every minute of it - to remember it," Izzo said.

"For me, it was embarrassing, my low point of being here," said senior defensive end Brandon Long of Canton, Ohio.

"It was depressing," said MSU athletic director Mark Hollis, who was then a senior associate AD under Ron Mason. "I spent most of the day on that field, looking up.

"There were a lot of staff meetings during that game. A lot of conversations centering on 'What do we need to do?' When things are going bad, in a marriage, grades, work ... That was a moment that made everybody, the fans, the administration, step back and re-evaluate. 'What the heck is happening here?' "

Smith was let go, Dantonio was plucked from Cincinnati, and everything in the program - relationships with high school coaches, recruiting, game-day performance, facilities - has improved since then.

"It's never too late to turn it around," Long said. "The outlook of the team and the fan base has done a 180 since then."

'We have a chance'

Fan excitement has built with each victory this season, but MSU still had seats for sale this week.

"The problem is, football success is colliding with a crashing stock market," Hollis said.

The season tickets have been a pleasant surprise - exceeding 59,000 when MSU projected them in the summer to be around 56,000. Of MSU's 24 luxury suites, 19 remain sold and the others often are rented on game days.

Of the 838 club seats, more than 500 are sold - a steady gain from two years ago when around 300 had been snapped up.

Hollis is happy with the situation, but it's delicate in these conditions.

Would there be a big difference if this team were, say, 4-3 instead of 6-1?

"Huge," he said.

The same word can be applied to the ramifications of a victory today. Fan support. Merchandising. National respect. Recruiting.

And the chance at a championship. MSU hasn't won the Big Ten since sharing it with three other teams in 1990.

With a win over OSU, the Spartans likely would be favored in their next three games - at Michigan, followed by Wisconsin and Purdue at home - before traveling to No. 3 Penn State for the regular season finale.

"That's the position Mark and his team have put us in," Izzo said of Dantonio. "We have a chance."

MSU hasn't had this kind of chance since 2003, when Smith's first team was 7-1 overall, 4-0 in the Big Ten and hosting Michigan. It lost 27-20 en route to dropping four of its final five games.

If there was a catch phrase among MSU players this week, it was "program win." The Spartans are seeking seven straight wins in a season for the first time since 1978, and the clinching of back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1989 and '90.

"We understand how important it is, and so do our fans," said senior running back Javon Ringer of Dayton, Ohio.

It's a chance for a football program and its fans to do something rare - and show the distance that can be traveled in a mere two years.

"I want our players to embrace this moment. ... We need to live and experience things," Dantonio said. "Part of the reason to come to Michigan State is for games like this."