MSU praises the environment at Kelly/Shorts Stadium

Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio has coached in the BCS National Championship game while at Ohio State, Michigan Stadium, Ohio Stadium and Beaver Stadium, some of the nation’s loudest venues in college football.

Saturday, while Dantonio roamed the sidelines, he found the noise just as loud.

“We talked about how it was going to be a loud environment,” Dantonio said. “I had to put cotton in my ear — I promise you, it was loud.”

With 10,000 of the Kelly/Shorts Stadium 35,127 crowd students, the south end zone was extremely loud while the students packed in throughout the first half.

“It was a good atmosphere,” MSU defensive end William Gholston said. “It looks like a real nice stadium. The student section was real loud.”

Gholston also said he enjoyed hearing “Go Green, Go White,” chants from the crowd that drove up US-127 to cheer on the Spartans. The MSU band and crowd filled the northern part of the stands.

After big first downs, or before big defensive plays, CMU players would help pump up the crowd, throwing their hands in the air, and the student section would follow suit and get loud.

“We were really excited to play,” CMU senior wide receiver Cody Wilson said. “It was a great atmosphere.”

CMU head coach Dan Enos talked about the day for businesses and the Mount Pleasant community with so many people coming to the area.

“It was a great, great atmosphere,” Enos said. “Our players doing the walk in; everything about it was great. It’s tough for me and the players right now because we just lost, but it was a great thing for this community and for this program.”

On the field, Dantonio said he saw it as a good challenge. With MSU leading 7-0, the Spartans had the ball seven yards from the end zone directly under the student section.

“I wanted to challenge them and run it in,” Dantonio said. “I wanted to run it right in front of their student section in the loudest part of the stadium.”

Junior Le’Veon Bell accepted his coach’s challenge, and ran it in for his second touchdown score.