Michigan State Football: Bowl projections after Rutgers win in Week 6

Michigan State football picked up yet another win on Saturday afternoon in Piscataway and with the 31-13 triumph over Rutgers, the Spartans are officially bowl eligible.

Who would have thought that Michigan State would be the first Big Ten team to reach bowl eligibility in 2021 after going just 2-5 in Mel Tucker’s first season? Probably no one but the Spartans have been that good.

Tucker has changed the culture in just one year and Michigan State is ranked in the top 10 just 13 games into his tenure as head coach.

With the Rutgers win and a 6-0 start, experts are projecting big things for Michigan State this postseason. For a team that was projected to win 4.5 games this year by Vegas and miss a bowl game, the possibilities are more than welcomed through six weeks.

Michigan State football bowl projections after Week 6

A number of different publications have Michigan State playing on New Year’s Day which is something the Spartans haven’t done since the prime Mark Dantonio years.

• I’m going to start with Stewart Mandel’s projections on The Athletic. It’s subscription-based and I don’t have one, but he said that Michigan State may be the most complete team in the Big Ten. That leads me to believe the Spartans are closing in on his New Year’s Six projections.
• Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Michigan State taking on Kentucky in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1.
• The 247Sports projections have Michigan State also playing in the Citrus Bowl, but the opponent, in this case, would be Arkansas.
• I decided to use College Football News’ picks because I thought they were kind of funny as they have Michigan State in the Las Vegas Bowl against Utah on Dec. 30.
• Our own Saturday Blitz has Michigan State in the Citrus Bowl against Ole Miss.

A Jan. 1 bowl game looks very possible for Michigan State which seemed unthinkable at the beginning of the year.