OT - Dantonio 10/2 press conference - UPDATED with transcript.

All Dantonio bashing aside, this just doesn't look good. Injuries are a quagmire on all levels of sports. Whether it's Lane Kiffin avoiding the media at all costs to keep injury reports in house, or the NHL's laughable lower-body/upper-body injury report, teams do everything they can to keep injuries a mystery.

Resuming Dantonio bashing: This goes beyond that. This appears to be a clear example of the coaching staff/medical staff ignoring concussion protocol. It brings up more questions. What is the NCAA policy for concussion testing? Particularly in-game testing? Would the Big Ten or NCAA be able to review this occurrence and hand out a possible punishment?

Going further, I don't think this will reflect poorly on Dantonio unless it gains major steam in big media outlets. If ESPN picks up the story and blows it out of the water, then maybe Dantonio will catch flak for it. Outside of bickering Michigan fans, I don't think MSU and the coaching staff is going to get a lot of heat for this.

Why the confidence that these sideline tests are so unimpeachable?

We don't know anything about anything with regards to concussions. Why is anyone so sure that these tests would never fail to detect a concussion?

Personally, I suspect Gholston passed the tests or else he wouldn't have been back on the field. I just don't think passing the tests, in light of the possibility that he was knocked out, should be sufficient to get him back on the field.

But, the way the system appears to be now, a doc who does not know what happened on the field or is beholden to the player for that information can administer some tests and if the player passes he can inform the coaches that he is cleared to play.

I think the system is at fault and MSU's coaching tree for it's blind adherence to the letter of the regulations. Unfortunately, that is often how bureaucracies function.

This is exactly why it is important to question MSU about if Gholston lost consciousness. To me, someone who has had several concussions, 'stunned' sounds like one of the many euphamisms for a concussion.

Granted, there are reasonable explanations as to other things occupying him at the time, but I might be a little mifffed if my team's head coach took that long to check on an injured player. 

Trying to play Devil's advocate here....

There seems to be no outrage or guilt from Mark D', and the Internets (invented by Al Gore) have only a small amount of damnation for him and MSU.  Major news outlets like ESPN and SI aren't going all haywire on this.  I think its been mentioned, but no reporter -- and we know, those reporters love to tear down programs, not just Drew Sharp -- aren't exploding with condemnation.   Obvious, we see this through Maize-colored glasses, and are wont to immediately assume the worst about Mark D'.

So, maybe WE are the ones overreacting?  I just want to raise the point.  Mental exercise, if you will.  Step outside the box.  Let's ask the question -- are we overreacting -- what are we missing?

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Yeah, well, I've been asking and thinking, but a 300+ lb. guy lying flat on his back 30 seconds without moving, after having his helmet visibly crushed... ok, I got nothing.

No, we arent.  WTF is Mark D' so non-reactive to this?

are missing the obvious here.  Gholston just "hulked up" and everything was all good.  Did you not see the Hulkster kick out at 2 after Savage dropped the big elbow, or after Earthquake delivered an Earthquake.  If he hulked up it's all good.

Perhaps he was pining for the fields.

and subsequent (long) slumber was freaking scary.  The staff should have taken away his helmet and told him to grab pine for the rest of the game.  Maybe Dantonio "didn't know" he was knocked out, but it is his job to know things like that and to draw hard lines for the health of his players.

As a fan and alum, I'd be pissed if Michigan did not do this for one of its players on a similar hit/loss of consciousness, regardless of the player or game. 

Myabe he was stunned that Gholston and Will Campbell have the same number of sacks. 1 

First off, on "Stunned" there is a common football injury called a "stinger" which may be what he meant. Stingers are caused by hits to the top of the shoulder/collarbone area and they hit a nerve that makes a good chunk of your arm numb. Think of it as a funny-bone but further up your arm.

Secondly, I recall while watching the game that someone on the sideline had a flashlight in hand, apparently ready to do a concussion test. It is quite possible (not plausible) that Gholston was hit, scared, froze a bit, realized that he was OK, came to the sidelines, passed a concussion test, and missed all of 1 play. I doubt it, and I would not have let him play at all, but that's just me.

IMHO the conference needs to step in. There should be B1G (or NCAA) employees (including a neuologist if possible, at least a doctor) at every game as a "Head Injury Crew". One member sits in the booth with replays to see if there is a possible head injury on the field. If so the player is immediately taken off the field and his helmet is taken (can't go back in without a helmet). This independent medical team should check for concussions/other head trauma, and only when THEY are satisfied the player should be given back his helmet and allowed to return to the field.

Take the onus off the coaches/trainers. Head injuries are different. Football players (athletes in general) have the "toughness" quotient to worry about and they want to help their teams. No one will die on the field because they're toughing it through an ankle sprain. Someone can and will die on the field due to a head injury if it's not diagnosed and they're removed from contact.

It's really saying something about Dantonio and the MSU AD when Mgoblog is more concerned about Gholston's safety.

This is pretty straightforward: Dantonio either lied in the postgame or lied today or lied both times.

With the way Gholston was acting toward the trainers as he walked off the field I would not be a bit surprised if he lied to everyone on the sideline and told them "I had the wind knocked out of me"

/speculation

This is off topic for this thread, but is there/could there be a wallpaper for the Purdue game?

over who plays because of injury? Do their sideline tests matter? They answer to their boss and if the head coach is unhappy with them, he can just get another medical staff.

" there is no sideline test that would clear him to play. "

That they let Gholston get up after that collision.  I was expecting him to be at least mobilized on the field at the time of the incident.  You sure don't want to mess around with someones neck or spine after the hit he took.

Broken ribs

from stun to kill. (Too low tech to post a video.)

"I don't know how anyone can watch the video and not think that Gholston was anything other than knocked out cold, for at least 30 seconds."

It also seems to me in the YouTube clip of this hit that he's a little more than stunned. One of the officials tapped him on the back, and a few players look like they try to mention somehow that the play is now over and Gholston doesn't move at all for an eerie amount of time. Indeed, when the trainers get to him, he still appears to be motionless, and by then about 20 seconds or so have elapsed. I am not a physician, but he really looked like someone who was out cold and should not have seen the field again.

In any event, it is interesting that Dantonio should apparently use "stunned", being that one of its primary usages is "to knock unconscious" basically. I didn't understand why he was put back in and I still don't - they didn't show much of the sideline activity, but you would hope that staff would be all over him after that and taken his helmet.

You would also definitely hope that, even if Gholston was saying he was OK once he was at least aware again, that they would be checking him out anyway, especially after an extremely brutal hit like that - that's not a situation where you should just take the player's word for it, I would think. If it is ever discovered for certain that Gholston was cleared to play when he should not have been (and after that hit, just the way it looked and the aftermath, my non-medical opinion is that he should have sat and been tested), I would hope all hell would break loose inside at least the Spartan medical staff - that's playing with lives.