Today at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 or ABC the No. 10 Michigan State Spartans (9-2, 6-1) will look to avoid a letdown performance against Penn State (6-5, 2-5) in Happy Valley in a Big Ten matchup that can be live streamed free by clicking this link. Spartans fans can listen to the action on WJR-AM 760, while Penn State fans may do likewise on 97.3 ESPN Radio.
Despite a highly successful campaign this year, the Spartans are not in contention for a Big Ten championship. That doesn't mean there's nothing to play for though, according to Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio.
"We're a little bit of the forgotten ones right now," Dantonio said. "Got a very good football team, got a chance to win 10 football games. We need to take comfort in that and take comfort in the fact that we're going places. This program is strong and healthy."
One aspect to watch out for is senior wide receiver Tony Lippet logging snaps on the defensive side of the ball. Lippett is one of the conference's elite pass-catchers, but began his college career as a corner and is making himself potentially more valuable to NFL teams.
"He was able to make that transition easily," Dantonio said. "I think he's a wide receiver at the next level, I just think this is an added dimension to him in terms of who he is from a toughness standpoint, from a competitive standpoint, and in an emergency situation."
Penn State's had a disappointing season but head coach James Franklin will not give up on young quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who threw for a woeful 93 yards in his last game.
"Christian has really high standards and expectations for himself and who he wants to be and how he wants to play," Franklin said. "I think he's handled it pretty well. He was one of the guys in my office Saturday night as one of the captains talking about these things. There is nobody harder on Hack than Hack."
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