Michigan State Football: How close are Spartans to a national title?
With Michigan State football making it to the College Football Playoff this year, how far are the Spartans from a national title?
Watching the clock tick down to the final seconds on the 2015 season, the Michigan State football team realized something: they had reached higher.
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Mark Dantonio had harped the words in preseason camps. “Reach higher,” the head coach claimed the mantra for the green and white. Those continued to be the words, even when sarcastic opposing fans used that against the Spartans following a Nebraska loss in November.
Michigan State still trekked on and eventually won, on the road with backup quarterbacks playing, against Ohio State and then in the Big Ten title game against Iowa to cap off an incredible streak following the loss to the Cornhuskers.
The College Football Playoff came a-calling and the Spartans answered, finishing No. 3 in the final polls right before the bowl season began. The opponent? None other than Nick Saban’s Alabama team which had destroyed Dantonio’s Spartans 49-7 in the Capital One Bowl just five years earlier.
Alabama took it to Michigan State, shutting the Spartans out, 38-0, and proving that Dantonio’s team wasn’t quite ready to be champions. Yet, they did reach higher.
There’s one thing about this loss to Alabama that had to be comforting to Michigan State fans and coaches, compared to the loss five years ago: MSU is on the right path. Five years ago after the loss to Alabama, people were claiming the Spartans couldn’t win a bowl under Coach D and their time as Big Ten elites would soon be up.
Five years, three Big Ten title game appearances, two conference crowns, four 11-plus win seasons and four bowl victories later and Michigan State is here to stay. The Spartans have proven that one loss won’t change the direction of a program, even if it is as disappointing as the Alabama debacle.
Games like that show what teams need to improve on and they really keep teams grounded.
So that brings us to the main point; how far are the Spartans from winning a National Championship?
Back in 2010, Michigan State was bringing in recruiting classes that ranked in the 40-50 range, nationally. This season, the Spartans have a shot at raking in a top-10 class when it’s all said and done. Heck, even a couple of years ago when Michigan State was in the midst of a Rose Bowl season, there were no real “stars” on the team besides maybe Aaron Burbridge and Lawrence Thomas who were regarded as high four-star recruits.
Now, the Spartans are getting four-stars on a regular basis and Dantonio has already proven to be a great developer of talent, even sending two two-star prospects — Darqueze Dennard and Trae Waynes — to the NFL via the first round of the draft.
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Losing Connor Cook will be tough, but Dantonio has about four guys who could fill the void in 2016 and make sure the Spartans make another playoff run.
L.J. Scott is coming off a true freshman season and showed flashes of pure greatness. The receiving class coming in might be the best in the entire country as is the defensive line haul. The secondary will only get stronger from here on out as Montae Nicholson, Demetrious Cox, Darian Hicks and Vayante Copeland will learn a lot from the film this offseason and they all have elite talent.
There is no issue at the linebacker position, especially with Riley Bullough coming back.
Offensively, the only concerns are really quarterback and offensive line, with a little receiver worry sprinkled in, despite all the talent.
The 2016 season will be a good one, and it will surprise some people. The schedule isn’t easy, but the young talent on this team will have time to develop and mature in Dantonio’s system.
No, Michigan State most likely won’t win it all with a first-year, unproven quarterback in 2016, but with the recruiting classes coming in and the maturity of the young stars, there’s a solid chance Michigan State will be able to play, and match, teams like Alabama in 2017 and beyond.
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Michigan State is not too far off, folks. Mark Dantonio is still reaching higher, but the titles are surely on their way.