Michigan State's Dantonio latest example of coaching stress
When you're a coach, there's not much time to dwell on real life. Not during the season, anyway.
Northern Illinois' Jerry Kill opted to schedule surgery around his team's opener at Iowa State. He also chose to return to the practice field too quickly and might have triggered last week's hospitalization.
Then there's Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, who suffered a heart attack Sunday morning less than an hour after his Spartans shocked Notre Dame in overtime.
Dantonio made the decision to run "Little Giants," the fake field-goal play that turned into MSU's game-winning touchdown.
The news about Dantonio, who had a stent inserted into a blood vessel to restore blood flow, left Illinois coach Ron Zook speechless for a moment.
"Whooo," Zook said. "Mark's not very old, either."
Dantonio is 54 and considered to be in shape. The 56-year-old Zook, meanwhile, is a fitness fanatic.
During Zook's teleconference Sunday afternoon, you could hear him pause - almost as if he needed a moment to calculate his chances of suffering the same fate.
But he's a coach. After asking whether anyone knew an update on Dantonio's condition, Zook did what coaches must do: veer away from real-life worry and revert to the football bubble. Zook chuckled as he turned his thoughts to "Little Giants."
"That was a heckuva call," he said.
Thornton OK: Ron Zook said sophomore guard Hugh Thornton should be ready to go when Illinois hosts No. 2 Ohio State on Oct. 2.
Thornton, an Oberlin, Ohio, native, was strapped to a board and carted off the field Saturday after a helmet-to-helmet collision with Northern Illinois defensive end Jake Coffman.
Zook plans to hold Thornton out of practice this week as a precautionary measure.
The Illini also hope cornerback Terry Hawthorne and tight end Zach Becker might rejoin the team for Ohio State week.
Both starters have missed the first three games with right-foot stress fractures, but both walked off the field relatively smooth after Illinois' 28-22 victory over Northern Illinois.
National leaders: Despite completing 75 percent of his passes and throwing for a career-high 307 yards Saturday night against Rice, Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa dropped to second in the national pass-efficiency rankings.
Persa's 192.63 rating comes from his 81.6 percent completion rate, his 769 yards and his 6-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Alabama's Greg McElroy (200.03) stands as the new national leader in efficiency, though Persa continues to lead in completion percentage.
Illinois senior Anthony Santella, on the other hand, jumped from second to first in punting average.
The 2006 Wauconda High School graduate owns a 48.9-yard average for his 15 punts. That's 9 yards better than his average during his first three seasons as the Illini punter.
"Part of the reason," Zook said, "as I was watching the tape today, is (new long snapper) Zak Pedersen has a lot to do with it.
"(Anthony) knows where the ball is going to be; he's able to step into the ball and get the ball off. Not only is he punting well, he's holding (for the kicker). All the things he's supposed to be doing, he's doing well."