Dantonio doesn't regret strong words

EAST LANSING - Actions usually speak louder than words.

Then Michigan-Michigan State week rolls around again.

Following their 28-24 victory over Michigan State a year ago, former Wolverines running back Mike Hart called the Spartans U-M's "little brother."

MSU coach Mark Dantonio replied by warning the Michigan program that, "The pride comes before the fall."

About 350 days later, Dantonio is not backing off that comment.

"No, I do not regret talking like that - and you know, big brother's watching, so I don't know," Dantonio said at his weekly press conference Tuesday.

Following tradition, the smack talk already has started for Saturday's matchup between the two bitter rivals.

After the Wolverines' 46-17 loss at Penn State on Saturday, Michigan defensive end Brandon Graham guaranteed victory against the Spartans (6-2).

"We're going to come out, we're going to work hard this week because I don't think we're going to ever lose to (Michigan) State," Graham told the Detroit Free Press. "I feel like we're not going to lose to State, because we're not going to lose to State. We're going to work hard, and we're going to win."

Dantonio called it "pretty soft bulletin board material."

But his players said otherwise. A handful of Spartans were asked after Tuesday's practice their reaction to Graham's comments.

All of them had a similar response - "Talk is cheap."

However, senior running back Javon Ringer saw it as a motivational tool for the Wolverines.

"If he feels like that is what he needs to motivate his team for this game, then I guess that is what he is going to do," Ringer said. "I don't need to make threats like that in front of the media to put it out there. It's not really what we do here at Michigan State.

"(But) it was cute little comment."

FAMILIAR FOES: Dantonio and first-year Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez are very familiar with one another.

Each previously coached in the Big East conference - Dantonio at Cincinnati and Rodriguez at West Virginia. They met twice, both West Virginia victories - 38-0 in 2005, and 42-24 in 2006.

Both coaches believe the familiarity with the other's coaching style can be useful Saturday.

"It certainly helps in the fact that at least we have competed against it and know the tempo and some of the things they have done back then," Dantonio said of Rodriguez's spread-offense system.

"Whether they are able to continue to do that so early in his stay at Michigan remains to be seen. I'm sure some things will change in terms of how they played us. They were very effective at West Virginia versus Cincinnati."

Said Rodriguez: "From what we've seen, from our summer scouting reports, so far this year it looks like a lot of the same things (Dantonio used at Cincinnati). You add a few wrinkles and things you change every year, but for the most part they look pretty similar."

HONORARY CAPTAIN: Dantonio said Sherman Lewis will be an honorary captain this week.

Lewis, a football and track standout at MSU from 1961-1964, was named first-team All-American and Football News Player of the Year as a senior. The halfback finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting that year.

On the track team, Lewis won the Big Ten indoor champion in the long jump and the 300-yard dash as a sophomore.

Lewis, a longtime NFL assistant, also served as an assistant football coach at MSU for 14 seasons (1969-1982).

He was inducted in the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.