Well, the praises of Buddy Morris are being sung going into the Michigan State game, hopefully with good reasons.

Wannstedt hired Morris in December to get his players in better condition. That meant more time in the weight room and running in winter, spring and summer, but the end result is more confidence among players going into this game.

“Buddy has done wonders around here,” free safety Eric Thatcher said. “You can really tell with the lines.”

Michigan State has two big backs who are averaging more than 70 yards per game. Javon Ringer has 163 yards on 35 carries and Jehuu Caulcrick has 146 yards on 24 carries.

Sophomore defensive tackle John Malecki said the Panthers are better prepared for the Spartans’ run-first offense this season because of their improved conditioning. The game last year was tied, 10-10, at halftime, but the Spartans scored four touchdowns in 16 minutes to blow the game open.

“We all feel great in the fourth quarter,” Malecki said. “You can turn on the tape and we look just as good on snap 60 as snap one. We took conditioning more seriously than we used to around here.”

I’ll be happier if the team takes tackling “more seriously than we used to around here.”

Pitt has taken a bunch of penalties in their first couple games. By contrast, the Spartans only have 7 in two games — the lowest in the Big 11. Big, fat, hairy deal.

Certainly, a team that has a very small margin for error, such as MSU, probably wants to avoid penalties as much as possible.

However, the least penalized team in the Big Ten last season was Northwestern with just 39 total fouls.

Avoiding penalties obviously didn’t do the Wildcats much good because they finished 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten. In fact, Northwestern led the nation in fewest penalties per game, and for what?

And guess which team was 118th in the nation with 8.29 penalties per game?

Drum roll please …. none other than your national champion Florida Gators.

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Penalties, while annoying and at times downright infuriating, haven’t been the problem.

No, not at MSU, but they were a symptom of the problems of the Spartans under Slappy Smith.

Both Wannstedt and Dantonio are similar minds in what they want their teams to be and do.

Mark Dantonio, however, likes his chances a little better this time entering Saturday’s game at Spartan Stadium.

“We’ve got a little more ammunition (than Cincinnati had),” said Dantonio, in his first season coaching MSU.

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“We’re going to play a running football team,” Dantonio said. “We’ve talked about that we need to stop the run and make a team one-dimensional. This is probably the first team that will come out and try to establish that aspect. It will be a good test for us.”

Said Wannstedt: “This will be our first big, big challenge. These guys (Michigan State) are a physical team.”

The focus on the Michigan State offense is obviously their running game, but with QB Brian Hoyer throwing well, it would be foolish to overlook WR Devin Thomas.

Thomas ended up with four catches for 156 yards, 76 of which came on a first-quarter reception to set up the Spartans’ first score.

With the 106 yards he had in the season-opener against Alabama-Birmingham, Thomas leads the Big Ten in receiving yards with 131 per game. His 29.1 yards per catch is second.

“I just feel like when the ball is in the air, I have the ability to get it,” Thomas said. “Regardless of the situation, if the quarterback puts it in my area I can get it. That’s just my mindset.”

The Zeise Q&A is back.

Q:Is our only chance to win this game against Mich. St. is to have McCoy have a Heisman trophy day and we get turnovers and a few Defensive/Special Teams TDs?

ZEISE: LeSean McCoy needs to have a big day for Pitt to have a chance for several reasons. One, to help protect Kevan Smith — you obviously don’t want a situation where he has to drop back and pass every down because you’ve fallen behind, and if you are running the ball successfully it means you are still in the game. Also, a big day running the ball will help protect the defense by keeping it off the field and fresh. And one other thing – if Pitt can control the line of scrimmage against Michigan State, it would be a huge confidence boost going forward. I think Pitt can win without getting help from the defense and special teams scoring points, but a few easy scores sure would help the cause.

Actually, I don’t feel as confident in Pitt winning without a little extra help from the defense and/or special teams with points. Those seem vital. At least get some turnovers and have a chance to convert them. Few teams are going to pull a USF and win a game with 0 points off of 5 turnovers as they did with Auburn.