Michigan State Football: 5 overreactions from upset win over Penn State

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EAST LANSING, MI – NOVEMBER 04: Matt Sokol #81 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates a 27-24 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions next to head coach Mark Dantonio at Spartan Stadium on November 4, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

1. Mark Dantonio is a lock for National Coach of the Year

Who’s got it better than Mark Dantonio? Not many. While he’s essentially a lock for Big Ten Coach of the Year, depending on if the media deems Paul Chryst more deserving, Dantonio could be in line to win even bigger awards — the National Coach of the Year award, in particular.

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Following up a 3-9 season with a subsequent nightmare offseason to put up a 7-2 record and 5-1 mark in the Big Ten through 10 weeks is grounds for national consideration. What he has done with this program since last season is almost unbelievable. He turned Michigan State from a laughing stock to a Big Ten East favorite in less than a year.

Looking around college football, there are only a select number of coaches who could contend with Dantonio. There’s Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Miami’s Mark Richt, Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst, UCF’s Scott Frost and Memphis’ Mike Norvell. Dantonio has done arguably the best job of the bunch with what happened last year.

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Although he’s probably not a lock to win these awards, he has to be considered one of the select few favorites. This has to be Dantonio’s best coaching job yet — and that includes the 2013 Rose Bowl season.

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