Although it’s not the premier Jan. 1 bowl game the Spartans had hoped for at the beginning of the season, head coach Mark Dantonio wouldn’t downplay its importance.

“Every experience that you have in your football uniform is a meaningful one,” he said. “It’s about competing, and I can tell you that we have a lot of Spartans and a lot of people will come to our football games. That’s just the nature of our program.”

For senior linebacker Chris Norman, that experience is even more meaningful, as it means he has one more opportunity to put on the green and white uniform.

“Even during this two-week break, I was really thinking about all the games that I’ve played at Michigan State and I really don’t want to give that up just yet,” he said.

Junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell added the importance of one extra game also comes from the fact that the team now will have more time to practice together before the end of the season.

“Going through bowl practices gives us an opportunity to get a lot of the young guys some work, so you can develop them and get back into the swing of that Michigan State offense,” he said. “And it’s a time to experiment with some new wrinkles and some stuff offensively and defensively.”

The Spartans received an allotment of 11,000 tickets to the bowl game.

MSU also held its banquet Sunday afternoon. Junior running back Le’Veon Bell took home team MVP honors.