Connor Cook believes Michigan State should’ve played for a national title in 2013

If you asked any Michigan State football fan what their favorite team since 2000 was, about 99 percent of them would have the same exact answer: the 2013 Spartans.

That was the team that really got Michigan State over the hump and into the national title conversation under Mark Dantonio. The Spartans were 13-1 in 2013 and were right there in the national title race, unfortunately missing out on a chance to play for a championship because of that controversial early-season loss to Notre Dame.

I’ll touch on just why it was controversial in a little bit, but if that game never played out the way it did, Michigan State would have been 13-0 before a national title game appearance against Florida State.

There’s been plenty of debate about whether Michigan State would’ve beaten Florida State or Auburn (the two title game participants), but 13 years later, Connor Cook believes the Spartans should have had a shot because they were good enough to beat either team.

He spoke to Owen Oszust and the media over the weekend at a golf outing and spoke about that 2013 season and how he still believes the Spartans could have won it all.

Cook did say that the Rose Bowl win was the most memorable moment of his career, just ahead of beating Ohio State. He said that nothing tops that win, but he still wishes that the Spartans would’ve gotten a shot against Florida State or Auburn but you know he’s biting his tongue about that Notre Dame game.

Now let’s get into that.

The 2013 Michigan State vs. Notre Dame game still haunts Spartan fans

This game obviously still haunts players and coaches because they know how close they were to winning it all if not for that controversial loss in South Bend, but it’s painful for fans who have been craving a national title for decades.

Michigan State was 3-0 entering that game and the Spartans were one of the surprise teams in college football because they had just crawled to seven wins the year before and a Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl win over TCU. Cook’s rise to stardom began in that comeback win over TCU and he just continued that rise in 2013.

During the Notre Dame game, though, he didn’t play his best, completing 16-of-32 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. The defense stole the show that day and gave Michigan State a shot to win.

Unfortunately, several phantom pass interference calls changed the trajectory of that game and Michigan State was unable to fight off the refs, losing 17-13.

If one or two of those wrong pass interference calls were ruled correctly, Michigan State wins that game and enters the national title game with a 13-0 record. Who knows what would have happened if Michigan State played Auburn or Florida State, but there wasn’t a hotter team in the country than the Spartans.

That Notre Dame game still haunts us all.

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