Michigan State’s victory at Notre Dame on Saturday was certainly one of the most impressive wins during Mark Dantonio’s time in East Lansing.

The Spartans jumped out to a 29-point lead on the road against a preseason College Football Playoff contender. It didn’t finish that way, but MSU still took care of business in a hostile environment and moved up to No. 8 in the Associated Press poll.

But was that a bigger game than MSU’s B1G opener against No. 11 Wisconsin? No, according to Dantonio.

“We should be excited for the opportunity,” Dantonio said during his Tuesday press conference, “and I think the storylines around it – Big Ten opener, the history with Wisconsin, the fact of where we’re at as a program, where they’re at — it points toward this game being a very big game, probably bigger than last weekend.

“No doubt, bigger than last week.”

Dantonio has a point. The Spartans could’ve theoretically lost at Notre Dame and still had everything in front of them.

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A loss to Wisconsin, and all of the sudden MSU isn’t in control of its own destiny to win a second straight B1G Championship. Given the fact that despite their fast start, the Spartans are looking up at Michigan and Ohio State in the national rankings, a loss to a team outside of that group could certainly have a lasting impact.

MSU can also gain plenty from a win against Wisconsin. The Spartans would have two wins over top-25 teams, which is something that only Alabama has.

This Saturday will mark the teams’ first time playing since 2012, but as Dantonio said, there’s history between the two teams. There was the overtime victory for the Spartans in Madison in 2011. Kirk Cousins’ last-second Hail Mary stunned the Badgers back in 2011. Wisconsin then went on to have the last laugh in the B1G Championship.

Dantonio didn’t drop the “this is just the next game on the schedule” line. With a B1G title on the line every game, this one has added significance with it being a matchup of top-25 teams.

From the sound of it, this could wind up being the B1G’s best crossover game of 2016.