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After tough loss, Spartans try to rebound at Northwestern

By ANDREW SELIGMAN

AP Sports Writer

EVANSTON, Ill. — Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio isn’t losing faith in his team.

He has seen the Spartans bounce back from difficult losses to make a run in Big Ten play and is banking on a similar scenario, starting with today’s noon game at Northwestern.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to regroup,” he said. “You can’t stand there and say — you can’t have the ‘poor me’s.’ You can’t sit there and say, all is lost, oh, my goodness, what just happened. You have to rally back.”

The Spartans (2-1) could be excused if they had a touch of the “poor me’s” following last week’s loss to Arizona State.

They had Matt Coghlin’s 42-yard goal negated in the closing seconds after a replay review showed too many players on the field. He had to try from farther back and hooked his kick left, denying Dantonio his program-record 110th win.

The Pac-12 later said an Arizona State player took a running start and leaped over the line in an attempt to block the kick. The league said a penalty should have been called.

MSU hopes to regroup against Northwestern, a team with three straight wins in the series. The Wildcats turned their season around last year with a 29-19 victory in East Lansing that helped propel them toward the Big Ten West title.

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