There are two schools of thought when it comes to playing after an off week.

Some coaches hate being idle because they have a hard time keeping their players sharp. When there's a rivalry game the following week, such as the game between No. 11 Michigan (6-0, 2-0) and No. 23 Michigan State (4-1, 1-0) on Saturday, there's also the issue of peaking too early in the two weeks between games.

Those are challenges the Spartans will try to overcome after sitting idle last week.

Of course, off weeks also provide the inherent advantage of getting a team healthy and rested, which becomes of increasing importance the deeper into a season it comes.

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio resides in that camp.

"As much as anything, we've got some people back and healed up that I think are in a little bit better shape physically right now in terms of playing with injuries," he said this week. "It wasn't that they were out, necessarily, but they would play injured. I don't think that's the case right now."

That is a boost for the Spartans' chances against Michigan. Meantime, the Wolverines played a tough road game last week against Northwestern. They came back to win, but expended a lot of energy doing so.

There also was the left hand injury to star quarterback Denard Robinson, which forced him to leave the game. He says he's healthy, though, and ready for Michigan State.

So, that's the biggest advantage to come from the Spartans' off week, and Dantonio is happy to have it.

At the same time, stats bear out the perils of what Michigan State is facing.

Last year, The Wall Street Journal compiled how each team in the six BCS conferences fared after an off week. It found that from 2002 through Oct. 14, 2010, teams had a winning percentage of .480 after being idle.

In the Big Ten, it was even tougher to win. Teams returning from an off week were just 17-32 in the span surveyed.

In the Dantonio era, Michigan State has not had good success after being idle. It is 1-1 after losing to Penn State, 49-14, in 2008, then eking past a bad Purdue team, 35-31, last year.

In that regard, Michigan might not be at a disadvantage after all, and could in fact have an edge. But it's hard to tell.

Not even Wolverines coach Brady Hoke knows what to expect.

"I’ve been on both ends of it — I don’t know (if there's an advantage)," he said this week. "I know one year (as a Michigan assistant), we had a bye week before we played Northwestern, and we probably tried to outcoach ourselves and do too much.

"Are you healthier? Maybe. Are you fresher? Maybe. But the schedule’s the schedule. Whatever it is, you have to go play it, and there are no excuses.”

For what it's worth: Hoke is 9-1 in his career against teams returning from an off week, and 3-0 against ranked teams.

Kyle Meinke covers Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2588, by email at kylemeinke@annarbor.com and followed on Twitter @kmeinke.