Recap of Michigan State Football history against SEC opponents
By Keith Dunlap
The most memorable and forgettable games MSU has had against teams from the mighty Southeastern Conference
SEC Media Days finished up on Thursday, with the entire college football world that is starved for the season to start descending on Alabama for four days of hearing coaches talk about well, pretty much nothing.
With that in mind, here are some of Michigan State’s most memorable and forgettable games against SEC opponents and a look to what the future could hold against teams from what many believe is the believe is annually the best conference in college football, especially those in the South who largely think the SEC is to football what the Vatican is to Catholics.
It’s not a particularly rich history MSU has playing SEC teams, but here are the notable games, both that ended well and ended badly.
The most memorable
2000 Citrus Bowl, MSU 37, Florida 34 – The final curtain call for a senior-rich MSU team that beat Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State at home during the regular season, only to see head coach Nick Saban bolt to LSU weeks prior to the game, the senior class went out on top thanks to Paul Edinger’s game-winning field goal as time expired. At the time, it was MSU’s first New Year’s Bowl win since the 1988 Rose Bowl win and was the first game/victory for Bobby Williams in his time as head coach at MSU. Needless to say, this was the zenith of the Williams era. It got worse after that. Much worse.
2012 Outback Bowl, MSU 33, Georgia 30 (3OT) – Another program-setting senior class went out with a win and established a springboard for future bowl success and championships by knocking off a perennial SEC power in Tampa. MSU was obviously still beaten down from a heartbreaking loss in the Big 10 title game weeks before to Wisconsin, given it trailed 16-0 at halftime. But the Spartans rallied, forced overtime with a touchdown in the final seconds, saw Georgia miss a potential game-winning field goal in the second overtime, and then saw Georgia miss another field goal in the third overtime that gave MSU its first bowl win under Mark Dantonio. It would be the start of four straight bowl wins for Dantonio.
Most forgettable
2015 Cotton Bowl (2nd version), Alabama 38, MSU 0 – After winning Cotton Bowl Version 1 against Baylor on New Year’s Day by coming back from 20 points down in the second half, there would be no such heroics at all in MSU’s second trip to Arlington in less than a year on New Year’s Eve. In fact, the only drama was whether MSU would score. It didn’t, which put a tremendous damper on a roller-coaster season that ultimately saw the Spartans make the College Football Playoff and win the Big 10 title. Alabama would go on to win its fourth national title since 2009 by beating Clemson 10 days later.
2011 Capital One Bowl, Alabama 49, MSU 7 – MSU’s reward for a great season was to go up against what not only might have been the nation’s most talented team, but one seething mad over letting two games slip away and being left out of BCS title contention. This one was over as soon as it started and the talent discrepancy was so bad, especially up front, that Alabama’s reserves were still dominating at will towards the end of the game.
Others
1938 Orange Bowl, Auburn 6, MSU 0– Trivia buffs everywhere can be enlightened that this was MSU’s first ever bowl game. Unfortunately, MSU’s first ever points in a bowl game would have to come another year.
1989 Gator Bowl, Georgia 34, MSU 27 – Most around MSU don’t remember the loss, but the unreal performance by senior wide receiver Andre Rison, who won MVP honors by catching nine passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns.
2009 Capital One Bowl, Georgia 24, MSU 12 – MSU fought hard, but ultimately Georgia, led by current Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, just had too much talent to overcome.
Future SEC opponents
If MSU makes the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus, Outback or Gator Bowls it would face another SEC opponent this year. As far as the regular season goes, there are no current non-conference games scheduled with an SEC opponent. MSU was supposed to have a home-and-home with Alabama starting this year, but the Crimson Tide cancelled the series two years ago.