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Iowa and Michigan State have a lot in common, and that is no coincidence
Be it by the numbers or just the eye test, there is an easy to conclusion to come to regarding the matchup between Michigan State and Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.
Whether it is how they line up (fullbacks a tight ends aplenty), how they dress (usually in their classic uniforms) or even how they were built (with more diamonds in the rough than five-star studs), the Spartans and Hawkeyes share a lot of similarities.
MSU coach Mark Dantonio confirmed that is no accident.
When he was an assistant coach at Michigan State and then Ohio State, he watched Kirk Ferencz build the Hawkeyes from 1-10 in his first season in 1999 to Big Ten co-champions in 2002. The Hawkeyes shared the title again two years later, but by then Dantonio had left his job as defensive coordinator for the Buckeyes to become head coach at Cincinnati.
His work with the Bearcats made him a candidate to become the big boss in East Lansing in 2007, and while he borrowed a lot from what he learned under Jim Tressel at Ohio State, Dantonio also found some things Ferentz had done to his liking.
"I think you try to pattern your program after certain programs when you become a head coach," Dantonio told reporters on a teleconference Sunday (via MLive.com). "When we came to Michigan State after we'd went to Cincinnati, we sort of patterned ourselves after Iowa, actually, said we want to have a fullback, we want to have a power football game.
"That's how we initially started. I think we're pretty diverse, as they are, in terms of what offense we run. We use a lot of tight ends and three-receiver sets. We do use a fullback, still, in our offense, and it has paid dividends. It speaks to toughness."
Of course, any coach is bound to decide what he wants to do because he hopes it is hard to beat, and Dantonio confirmed later in the week meeting a similar squad has its pros and cons.
"You feel like you've played against them before and they are who they are, but you also know with that comes challenge, great challenge," Dantonio said during a press conference Tuesday.
"We're somewhat the same because of maybe some of the belief system. We both have a fullback but we use him differently at times, or those type of things. Both a 4-3 defense, but we're different. So there's things like that that we're different in, but we are the same in certain areas.
"They will be a great challenge, I promise you. They're a very, very good football team."
