Mark Dantonio: ‘Looking Forward to’ Nebraska

Football Texture/iStockphoto(NEW YORK) — (10) Michigan State will get all they can handle from (19) Nebraska on Saturday night.

The Cornhuskers come into the game at 5-0 and Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio said he’ll make sure his team is ready for a fight.

“[I’m] really looking forward to the opportunity,” Dantonio said on Monday. “[We had a] great football game last year [with] a lot riding on the game.  Really one of the reasons you probably come…[to] a place like Michigan State and play in a conference like this is to have these type of games.”

Michigan State got the best of Nebraska last year, but Dantonio said Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong has more experience coming into this game.

“This year he’s more experienced,” Dantonio said of Armstrong. “That’s his only loss that he’s had on him since he’s been a starting quarterback was last year. And I’m sure he wants some of those plays back.”

“So, I think he’s much more experienced, much more confident as a playmaker, much more in control of the offense and he is the guy this year, whereas last year he was a guy who, initially, it was Martinez and then the other guy and then it was him,” he continued. “I think he’s the guy in charge and there’s confidence that goes along with that and a sense of ownership. I think that’s a positive for any football program.”

Nebraska is looking to go 6-0 for the first time since 2001.  Head coach Bo Pelini doesn’t believe last year’s loss will be a factor.

“You can look at it two ways: you can look at it that we gave it to them, or you can look at it from their standpoint that they took it,” Pelini said. “We need to play better, cleaner, to have a chance to win the football game. I don’t want to take away and say we should have won the football game, that’s sort of a cop out.”

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. Eastern on ABC.

Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio