http://statenews.com In a few days, when the sting of Saturday’s 49-18 beatdown in Beaver Stadium wears off, the MSU football team will be able to reflect on its 9-3 season. The No. 22 Spartans (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) can take pride in likely becoming the first MSU team to reach a New Year’s Day bowl game since 2000, when the Spartans stunned Florida with a 37-34 win in the Citrus Bowl (now known as the Capital One Bowl). MSU will either receive a berth in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., or the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla. en-us Gryphon 2.2.3b-tsn (woodward)/Foundry5 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:42:11 -0500 webmaster@statenews.com http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28917 Does anyone remember the last time MSU beat a Top 25 team? That’s right 2005 against Notre Dame. There is no doubt that Dantonio has started to help turn this team around and the team and players had a great season, but until we can pull off a win against a Top 25 team, MSU will not be considered an “elite” program. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:02:26 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28917 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28920 Brian you must be a solid 2.0 student because your memory just isn’t that great. Try and think back maybe a month, (I’m not sure if you can get past yesterday) but MSU beat Northwestern who was ranked at the time and is ranked now. Nice work Brian, nice work. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:41:50 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28920 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28921 I usually like your writing Jacob, but you made a major mistake in this article, MSU is not guaranteed the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl, the Alamo Bowl is still very much a possibility as Iowa could jump MSU. If you actually did some reporting you would understand. Maybe you should contact bowl reps and see what they have to say instead of just making assumptions. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:46:52 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28921 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28926 Whoever wrote in the name of Hondo is wrong. MSU is guaranteed a New Year’s Bowl Game. The worst we could have ended up after the PSU game was a third place in the Big Ten, as we are now that we lost, and 19th in the Nation as the new BCS rankings show. I don’t know if OSU could get an at-large BCS bid but I doubt it. After all, it looks like the Spartans will be heading to Tampa to play the Outback Bowl. Great thing are in the future, Spartans!! GO GREEN!! Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:11:07 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28926 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28930 Actually student you are wrong. The conference rankings have little to do with the bowl selections. The Rose Bowl gets the conference champion, after that the other bowls are free to choose which team they want based on some criteria. The Capital One and Outback Bowls get the 2nd and 3rd picks of the Big Ten teams and can take any bowl eligible team remaining as long as the team they choose doesn’t have 2 more conference losses than the best available team. MSU has 2 conference losses, Northwestern and Iowa each have 3, thus either of them could in theory be selected above MSU. This is unlikely since bowl selections are primarily based on how well the fan bases travel and MSU has the edge among those three teams but a January bowl is not “guaranteed”. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:52:28 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28930 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28933 Why can’t we all just get along. Lets just wait and see what happens when the bowls are selected on Dec. 9. We are ALL Spartans, we should support one another, and cheer on the team no matter where they go. They can use ALL of our support. NO BASHING ALLOWED!!!! Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:04:43 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28933 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28953 MSU is not going to get jumped by Iowa or NU. MSU will most likely play South Carolina in the Outback bowl. Thats great news because we can beat SC and get the 10th win and a bowl game win all in one. No one in their right mind will take Iowa over MSU. Period. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:40:31 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28953 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28963 Why would Iowa jump over us when we won against them? Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:07:57 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28963 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28978 Theoretically, Iowa shouldn’t jump us, since we have a better overall record, better conference record, and we won head to head. But the committees for these bowls can invite whoever they want (provided the team is bowl-eligible and their conference is under contract, of course), and that seems to be the problem here. It would seem academic at this point, but Iowa is apparently lobbying hard for the Outback Bowl, and the LSJ is under the impression that MSU is hurting itself by waiting to see if OSU gets a BCS berth (which would put us in the Capital One Bowl) instead of pushing for the Outback Bowl now. This whole argument that Iowa is going to jump MSU because they “travel well” seems like complete nonsense to me, but then again, why would people even be discussing this if it weren’t a possibility? Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:49:25 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28978 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28983 Whoever said MSU has not beaten a ranked team since Notre Dame is a fool. I pity the fool. The fact is that we obviously aren’t as elite as OSU and PSU. A lot of that stems from quarterback play. I am so glad to get Hoyer out of there next year. He is a joke. Our receivers need to stop dropping so many balls as well. Johnny Adams will have a year of experience under his belt, while Greg Jones could be the best linebacker in the conference. He was the only good defensive player in that game. At least we won 9 games and will continue to get better. Dantonio is a blessing to the program. Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:20:38 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28983 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28988 Did it really take a blowout loss to Penn State to realize that MSU is “not yet elite”? A 45-7 home loss to Ohio State must not count… Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:59:49 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/28988 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29085 Bill, Get the Fk out of this board and drink some more rats poison and OH BTW, 3-9 season calls for a celebration and congrats you pompous wolvie. Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:07:28 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29085 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29096 Hey ss: Before you act like a mindless moron as you did in your post, take a moment to stop and think that I might actually be an MSU student…because I am. The quality of being an MSU student does not obligate a person to have their head in the clouds by considering that MSU is even remotely close to being “elite”. Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:14:28 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29096 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29180 Iowa travels better than MSU (in football). The 2005 Outback Bowl with Iowa sold out in 1 day (a record). By comparison the 2003 Outback Bowl between Michigan vs Florida took 9 days to sell out. If Oregon St wins the Pac-10, Ohio St is out of the BCS bowl picture. If that happens, Ohio St will go to the Capital One (Ohio St travels extremely well too) then it’s a toss up between Michigan St and Iowa. There is no chance Northwestern gets selected ahead of either MSU or Iowa. I think MSU will still get the nod but to say that MSU travels better than Iowa fans is totally inaccurate. Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:22:07 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29180 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29187 MSU fans beware… Iowa has won 3 straight and 5 of their last 6 games including a win against Penn State. Iowa is also arguable the hottest team in the Big 10 right now. Bowl reps from both the Capital One and Outback have been quoted in saying that team momentum plays a big part in their decision making process. That being said, who would you pick… MSU who just got thumped by Penn State 49-18, or an Iowa team who just sent 30,000 fans to the Metrodome and smoked Minnesota 55-0? Congrats on a great season, but don’t make your travel plans quite yet. Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:50:13 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29187 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29192 The Outback bowl has a fan poll up on their website asking which matchup fans want to see. Iowa has a big lead over MSU right now :(. www.outbackbowl.com Check out the right side of their page for the banner. Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:40:17 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29192 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29534 You can take this to the bank: Ohio State will get a BCS bid. Spartans next in line . . . beyond dispute! Capital One Bowl beckons Green and White. So sure I have two tickets already on the 40 yard line… Big Ten side of course. Strictly as a hedge, I “covered” with purchase of tix to Outback and Champs — but I can resell them at a profit and pay my way to ORLANDO. I was there when we beat University of Florida on Jan. 1, 2000. Thrilling game, with another one about to unfold vs. SEC’s best of the rest. Bring ‘em on! Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:42:11 -0500 http://statenews.com/index.php/comment/view/29534