Michigan State University Athletics
Managing A Bye Week
10/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 7, 2011
By Steve Grinczel, Online Columnist
Except for the ball itself, nothing in college football gets more spin than a bye week. It always comes at the best possible time, except when it doesn't, which is almost never.
Conventional wisdom suggests that a team doesn't want a bye during a win streak because it can disrupt momentum. And, it also doesn't want a break after a loss because it wants the bad feeling that comes with it to linger any longer than possible.
Even Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio had some fun with the question he gets asked at this point of every season: Is this a good time to have a week off?
"I think it's an ideal time, coming off a win," he said. "You never want to come off a loss and have a bye week, so that's a big plus. (But) sometimes you don't want to interrupt what you've got going on.
"And if we would have lost, then we'd be saying, `We're regrouping; it's a good time to have a bye week.'"
It's really not hard to navigate the coachspeak, double talk or mixed messages.
Byes are part of the schedule, and to be managed like any other part of the program.
Dantonio said he has approached every bye differently, depending on the circumstances. Last season, the bye came after the 10th game, which made it too late to look in on high school players, who for the most part were done with their seasons.
So, more work went into preparing the Spartans for the last two regular-season games against Purdue and Penn State. Even though the bye came after win over Minnesota, it must have come at a good time because MSU swept the Boilermakers and the Nittany Lions to win a share of the Big Ten Championship.
"We sort of look at the calendar and see what's going to be best for the program, whether it's recruiting, it's time off, practice, whether guys need to heal up a little bit, things of that nature," Dantonio said. "We're just always going to take it as it comes, look at who we are and make decisions from there."
Dantonio and the Spartans are embracing this bye week even though it came after a big, emotional, 10-7 win at Ohio State which raised their record to 4-1 and set up a showdown with archrival Michigan on Oct. 15.
Contrary to a typical myth being promoted, it's not like MSU has a built-in advantage over the Wolverines because it's spending every available waking moment preparing for that game.
While there is a substantial amount of preliminary game-prep going on, Dantonio wants his players and assistant coaches to get away from the daily grind of football.
The players had Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off, returned to practice Wednesday and Thursday and will have Friday and Saturday off. Meantime, the coaches hit the road to recruit and visit with prospects.
And when Dantonio said the players were off the clock, he expected them to be completely away from football. He didn't want them running around and playing catch or taking out aggressions on the blocking sled. The only thing required of the players is that they come in for their regularly scheduled weight-lifting sessions. And, it will surprise no one if quarterback Kirk Cousins sneaks some peaks of Michigan game footage on his laptop.
"I do want them to deflate a little bit," Dantonio said. "I want football to be fun. I think sometimes, you continue on and on and on. You've got to be able to step back and recognize how really privileged you are to be involved with it.
"I think that goes for the coaches, too. You go recruit, get on the road, do something different. We make sure we do something every day recruiting as well as trying to get ready to play a football game, or critique the past football game or talk about academics.
"There are a lot of different wheels turning in this program as we go into a bye week, or even during the season, and we have to keep them all turning, continuously."
While the Wolverines need to be foremost on the players' minds, there's nothing wrong taking a casual approach this week.
"We're not playing Michigan this week," Dantonio said. "We don't need to be all jacked-up this week. We need to be enthusiastic and have our adrenaline running next week. I think sometimes if you start too soon, it can die out.
"So, we're sort of saving ourselves a little bit. We want to come out of this week very healthy. We do ask them to take the time (off). Hopefully, they can go home and watch a high school football game this weekend. That's why we're not practicing Saturday morning. I want them to be able to go home, and hopefully, they take advantage of that."
In addition to healing up bumps and bruises and relieving some of the mental fatigue that comes with nine-straight weeks of practice, the Spartans will temper some of the excitement that accompanies anything new.
The will wear the green, black and bronze Nike Pro Combat uniforms in practice so that their look, feel and smell won't be a distraction when they're worn against Michigan.
Players will get a chance to break in the shoes, get a feel for the padded undergarments and become accustomed to recognizing each other in bronze-colored helmets.
"You just manage byes as they come, and you make them what you want to make them," Dantonio said. "As long as you take a positive approach of what you have, regardless of who you're playing and what you're dealing with, positive things can happen."
One thing will be certain, if MSU beats Michigan, it will have been a great time for a bye week.
