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Michigan State Spartans football team looks to keep perfect record intact

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker celebrates with a Spartan player after a field goal during the second quarter against Miami on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP photo)

EAST LANSING (AP) — As the only Power Five coach with a pair of road upsets this season, Mel Tucker is happy to be home.

His goal is for Michigan State’s players to forget their 3-0 start, including a Big Ten win, and a No. 20 ranking and for its fans to remember how important they can be when Nebraska (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) visits Saturday night.

“I asked the players, ‘How does 3-9 sound to you?'” Tucker recalled Tuesday. “They said it didn’t sound too good. And I said, ‘

Well, it’s about what we do next — like right now.'”

Calling a clash with the Cornhuskers “a double-mouthpiece game,” Tucker asked for his team’s fans to be more than a 12th man. He wants their help in creating an unmatched home atmosphere.

“It should be, and I believe it will be, one of the toughest places to play in the country,” he said, remembering a 6-0 home mark with wins over Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in 1999. “People should not want to come to Spartan Stadium and play in `The Woodshed.'”

Michigan State safety Michael Dowell, front center, celebrates after the team defeated the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP photo)

Tucker asked Michigan State’s students to show up early for a “Stripe the Stadium” game and for its fans to keep Nebraska’s representation to the 2,500 tickets it requested, perhaps remembering more than 25,000 Husker fans who came to Colorado where he coached two years ago.

A greater concern might be whether Nebraska brings the team that lost at Illinois in late August or the one that outscored Fordham and Buffalo 70-10.

If the game comes down to quarterback play, Tucker raved about the Huskers’ Adrian Martinez, a dual threat and the first player in school history to throw for more than 1,000 yards four times. Meanwhile, Nebraska coach Scott Frost couldn’t say enough good things about the Spartans’ Payton Thorne, who has thrown nine touchdown passes without an interception.

“The quarterback can do everything they ask him to do, but they’re just solid everywhere,” Frost said, “When you look at Michigan State for as long as I can remember, it’s a black-and-blue, physical team. We know we’re in for a fistfight Saturday night. It’s going to be a fun environment.”

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