Michigan State Football: 5 reasons Spartans will be contenders in 2019

1. Mark Dantonio’s success after disappointing seasons

Everyone has knocked Mark Dantonio for “losing his touch” in the past few seasons, starting with the horrid 3-9 campaign in 2016. It was the first time his Spartans had missed a bowl under his reign — dating back to the 2007 season when he took over.

But each time he has a “mediocre” or “average” season, like the one he had in 2018 with just seven wins despite returning almost everyone, he turned things around the next year.

In fact, let’s look at how he’s fared after winning just seven games. In his first year, he finished 7-6 with a losing record in Big Ten play, but bounced back to go 9-4 with a 6-2 Big Ten record in 2008. The next year, he was just 6-7 with a 4-4 Big Ten record, but then went 11-2 with a 7-1 conference record and tie for the league crown. The Spartans lost to Alabama in the Capital One Bowl, but going 11-1 during the regular season was unprecedented for Michigan State — and that was coming off a six-win season.

Two years later, Michigan State went 7-6 with a horrid offense and followed that up with a 13-1 season which included an undefeated conference record, Big Ten title and Rose Bowl win over Stanford. It was arguably the best team in school history and many believed it could have won a national title.

Then, over the last three years, Dantonio went 3-9 in 2016 and then won 10 games in 2017.

A 7-6 season in 2018 should have fans feeling good about a bounce-back because Dantonio has done it four times before.