Current State
After a disappointing loss at home to the Northwestern Wildcats, the Michigan State Spartans find themselves in an emergency situation. They are currently sitting at 2-4, a record that very few if any expected them to have. The Spartans’ early dreams of making the College Football Playoff have long been vanished, along with the chance of defending their Big Ten Championship crown.
Going Bowling
While this season has proven to be disappointment for Michigan State fans everywhere., there is still something very important left to be played for. Mark Dantonio has lead the Spartans to a program record of consecutive bowl games that dates back to 2009, when they played the Georgia Bulldogs in the Capital One Citrus Bowl. Bowl games are important to any team, because they bring notoriety to a program, money to the conference, and a chance to compete against another top tier team. They also serve has a nice reward to a team after a hard fought season.
However, there is something that is more valuable at stake to the coaches as well as the development of the program: extra practices. When a team qualifies for a bowl game, they are awarded 15 extra practices. This is key, because those 15 practices are the same amount that each team is given for spring ball. Essentially, teams who qualify for bowl games are given two spring balls, once in December, again in the spring.
A large part of these practices are spent on development, building up the depth and talent of the younger players. It’s also an opportunity to rest the older players that are banged up from the season and due to move on to graduation or early entry to the NFL. A struggling team, such as Michigan State, needs those extra 15 practices to get a leg up on the start of the 2017 season.
If the Spartans were to make it to any bowl game, it would have immense value. In 2012 the Spartans finished 6-6 and made it to a bowl game. This bowl game provided two things; an extra 15 practices to get ready for the following season and the emergence of quarterback Connor Cook. How did that next season end up? With a 13-1 finish and a Rose Bowl Victory. The guy that won Rose Bowl MVP? None other than Connor Cook, who started proving his value in the bowl game the year before. So while the door is seemingly shut on Michigan State earning a major bowl bid, any bowl bid would serve as a huge luxury towards the following season.
What’s Left?
With six games remaining in the 2016 season, Michigan State finds themselves seemingly backed into a corner. Of those six games remaining, four of those are winnable. The other two, are against teams currently ranked second and third in the country in Ohio State and Michigan. Those games are rivalries, and we all know that anything can happen in a rivalry. With the Paul Bunyan Trophy making a home in the Michigan State locker room, do not expect the Spartan senior class to just hand him over. It was just last year that the Wolverines had the game all but won, before a bad snap and botched punt blocked by Grayson Miller which was returned for a touchdown by Jalen Watts-Jackson as time expired. Last season, the Spartans also managed to beat the Buckeyes on the road, with a combination of their backup quarterbacks against an Ohio State team that was filled with future NFL Draft picks.
The last four games on the Spartans schedule are against the Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers, and Penn State. The Terrapins are an improved team, but not one that Sparty will lose to, especially with continued improvement from the quarterback position by Tyler O’Connor. The Illinois Fighting Illini are undergoing massive struggles in all three phases of the game. Rutgers Scarlet Knights is a team that scored just one touchdown in their last three games. Penn State appears to be on the verge of a breakout season under head coach James Franklin. But again, this a game with a trophy on the line, and Penn State will not overwhelm Michigan State with their talent.
The road to a bowl game won’t be easy for Michigan State, but if this team can get on track and earn a bowl bid, it can catapult them towards a huge season in 2017.
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