The secret’s out.
The cat is out of the bag.
Use whatever cliche you want to describe the MSU football program, but the fact of the matter is this -- they’ve arrived.
Throughout the course of the past decade, head coach Mark Dantonio has brought the Spartans from bottom dwellers of the Big Ten to one that’s amassed 53 victories in five years.
The transformation of the MSU football program under the guidance of Dantonio certainly didn’t happen overnight. The Spartans have worked, scratched and clawed to gain everything that they now have.
And now, heading into Dantonio’s ninth season at the helm of MSU, there are several crucial aspects in the 2015 season — whether it be the 20 redshirt seniors, the third year starting quarterback with a record of 23-3, or arguably the best offensive and defensive lines in the nation — that make this No. 5 MSU team not only Dantonio’s best team yet, but also one with a very real chance at a national championship come January.
9 years strong
Coming off of a 4-8 season in 2006 and the firing of former head coach John L. Smith, MSU was struggling for relevancy in college football.
With a 22-26 overall record and a 12-20 conference record, Smith’s tenure in East Lansing came to an end, opening the door for Dantonio.
Dantonio had his work cut out for him. Through his first three years at the helm, the head coach went just 22-17 overall and 13-11 in the Big Ten.
After a 6-7 season and a fight in Rather Hall leaving 12 players suspended in 2009, support for Dantonio was dwindling.
However, the tide began to turn in Dantonio’s fourth year. The 2010 Spartans went 11-2 and 7-1 in the Big Ten, but the season ended with a lopsided 49-7 loss to Alabama in the Capital One Bowl.
The loss to Alabama gave Dantonio an 0-4 record in bowl games as the head coach at MSU.
The Spartans went 11-3 and 7-1 in the Big Ten in the 2011 season and the season ended with Dantonio’s first bowl win, a 33-30 win over Georgia in the Outback Bowl.
The team took a step back in 2012, going 7-6 and 3-5 in the Big Ten, but the season ended with the beginning of the Connor Cook era as Cook helped lead the team to a 17-16 win over Texas Christian Univesity (TCU) in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
Throughout the next two seasons the Spartans would go 24-3 and 15-1 in the Big Ten with a win in the Rose Bowl in 2013 and a win in the Cotton Bowl in 2014, giving MSU and Dantonio four straight bowl wins.
Dantonio has managed to compile a 75-31 record in his eight seasons as the head coach of MSU. His 53 wins since 2010 are the most in the Big Ten and seventh most in the Football Bowl Division (FBD) of the NCAA.
Now the team is aiming to “reach higher” and compete for the national championship.
“We were selling hope back then a little bit, a little bit more of an unknown,” Dantonio said at MSU Media Day. “Now we’re selling the results of what’s happened. I think people look at things and say that they’ve done this, they’ve done that, okay, what’s the next step, (that’s) where reach higher comes into the play.”
Dantonio expects his team to compete for a spot in the playoffs, but he also want to see his players grow as people.
“I think a successful season is a season where you finish on the up note,” Dantonio said. “I still will say a benchmark for us is going to be certainly getting to the playoffs and all those type of things. That’s where our goals are. But you reevaluate your goals as you move forward, too, and I think that my feeling is that this is what I want for our players. I want relationships, I want them to graduate, I want them to win, I want them to go to bowl games. I want us to give back, and when they walk out of here, feel good about their experiences here. That makes it a positive season for me.
“The wins and the losses are going to come and go. That’s a part of life. That’s a part of who we are. It’s going to be how we handle both ends of the stick that’s going to determine are we ultimately successful.”
Leaders
With the recent election of the team captains in seniors Jack Allen, Shilique Calhoun and Darien Harris, many were questioning why senior quarterback Connor Cook didn’t secure enough votes from his teammates to become one of the three.
However, this is more-so a testament to depth of leaders on this team. The Spartans have 20 redshirt seniors, making for an experienced veteran team.
“He could’ve been (a captain), no doubt about it,” Harris said about Cook. “Absolutely no doubt in my mind that he could’ve been a captain if we had four captains he could’ve been the fourth captain. He’s on the leadership council, he’s a leader, he’s the leader of the offense, he commands the huddle.
“Being a linebacker and being that close to them when they huddle up you can tell his presence. People feed off of him, he’s incredibly competitive, he gets the guys in the right places and he has a fantastic command on this offense and on this team and he will be by far one of the best leaders on this team.”
Harris spoke about the presence of multiple players who still lead the team without the title of captain.
“Anybody in the senior class could have been elected today,” Harris said after the captains were announced. “There’s so many guys on this team that could lead, I stress that as well to the team that everybody is going to have to lead for us to be successful.”
Harris mentioned that when he is not at his best he’ll need somebody in his corner and that everyone can be a leader not just the seniors.
“If I’m not doing something right I need somebody to pick me up, and that could be somebody from any class,” Harris said. “I think that’s what makes us so great is that we don’t play favorites, we don’t play seniority, it doesn’t matter who it is, anybody can be a leader.”
Despite the presence of a bevy of leaders, Dantonio wont compare this years group to the leaders of the past.
“I don’t really put a comparison on that because the season is not over yet,” Dantonio said. “How they lead will define themselves over the course of the season.
“But, I’ve been very impressed in terms of how they’ve handled themselves in camp and how they’ve led in camp and some of the things they’ve talked about when they’ve had their opportunity to address our entire football team. Because when you stand up there in front of your peers and talk there’s power in that.”
