Spartan fans have heard it before. The phrases "MSU has reached their peak" or "MSU's run is over" are heard over and over like a broken record. However, despite these comments, the Michigan State football team has kept chugging along with their success, and continues to improve.
Heading into this past season, the MSU football team was coming from 11-2 season and a great comeback win against Baylor in the Cotton Bowl. Connor Cook would be returning, and MSU's offensive line would have familiar faces from the previous year. Despite this, the national media continued to hype up Michigan and Ohio State more so than MSU. This never bothered Mark Dantonio or any player on the team, and it gave them a chip on their shoulder. How do you prove the critics wrong? You go out there and win, and the Spartans did just that, ending the season with a 12-2 record and winning the Big Ten Championship for the second time in three years. Along the way they defeated Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State and an undefeated Iowa team in the Big Ten Championship game.
When you mix great coaching, great effort and a little bit of luck together, good things tend to happen. Yes, MSU was on the verge of losing to Michigan, but sometimes things fall your way and MSU took advantage of it to win the game, however, more things than just luck decided the outcome of that game. When Connor Cook was injured during the Maryland game, it looked like it spelled doom against Ohio State when he wasn't able to play. MSU was able to win the game on a field goal in the final seconds, shocking many. Nothing was lucky about that, but Ohio State had a puzzling offensive game plan and MSU grinded out a 17-14 win.
In the past few weeks, anyone who doesn't like MSU or is a fan of a rival team loved the fact that they were defeated 38-0 against the Crimson Tide on New Year's Eve. Nobody is surprised they lost that game, since Alabama was favored, but it is upsetting to get shutout by an opponent. Alabama has superior talent level to MSU, and it showed during the game as well as in their win over Clemson Jan. 11, 2015. They had a great game plan against Michigan State and they executed when they needed to. Nevertheless, getting to the playoff was a big question this year, since defending national champion Ohio State beat MSU in the prior season and went on to defeat Alabama in the playoff before beating Oregon. When MSU defeated Ohio State, they knocked them out of the playoffs and there was a clear path for MSU to the Big Ten Championship game.
No Spartan fan should be disappointed by this season. This season was a great success. Yes, they lost in the playoff, but only two teams in the country get to play for the national title and MSU was ranked third in the nation. That is a great ranking for the end of the season, and the Spartans established themselves as a top 10 team in the country for the third year in a row. There is a great recruiting class coming in next year with freshmen with some of the best talent Dantonio will coach. There are still some questions on who will be the starting quarterback next season, but MSU should still be one of the best teams in the Big Ten next year.
