“This season showed that (the Champs Sports Bowl) last year was not a flash in the pan (and) we had something to build on,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said of the importance of this season. “We came back and responded and went a bit farther and built more within the program.”

At the forefront of the shift from a 4-8 record in 2006 to 9-4 this season is MSU’s group of 16 seniors. Led by the team’s four senior captains (quarterback Brian Hoyer, defensive tackle Justin Kershaw, running back Javon Ringer and safety Otis Wiley), Dantonio said the group of seniors “raised the bar” for a MSU football program entering its third season under this coaching staff.

Wiley, who joined Dantonio at the podium for the postgame press conference, said he is certain the foundation he and his fellow seniors laid for for MSU will continue to be built upon.

“To leave like this, we wanted to win, but to go out in a New Year’s Day bowl game is great,” said Wiley, who had seven tackles and forced a fumble. “It’s been a great journey that the seniors have went through and the underclass man have too. The leaders coming up next are going to lead strong and (MSU is) going to be a great program.

Javon shut down
Georgia’s rush defense, which gave up nearly 130 rushing yards a game during the season, righted the ship against MSU and Ringer, its All-America running back.

Ringer, who ranks near the top nationally in many rushing categories, was held to 47 yards on 20 carries. Ringer, whose 4,398 career rushing yards rank second in school
history, said the entire Georgia defense had great team pursuit and were always around him.

“They weren’t too overwhelming,” Ringer said. “But they just always had people on the ball.”

More about speed
Another matchup between the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten has been played, and while Georgia didn’t win in as dominating of a fashion as many predicted, they still came out with the victory. SEC vs. Big Ten always means one thing: Speed. So how did MSU’s speed matchup against Georgia’s?

“I think they underestimated us because we came out in the first half and showed them a lot of intensity,” Wiley said. “With the more intensity that we showed, we were playing around and swarming them and made them alert.”

It’s all over
Hoyer, always a wanted man at press conferences, took longer to come out of the locker room following the game. Although Hoyer had a mediocre game (18-for-34 passing, 169 yards, one interception), he wasn’t thinking about how he throw the football in his last college game.

He was thinking about friends.

“Just seeing all those people in there, I don’t know when the next time is I’ll see them,” Hoyer said of his teammates. “I fly back to Cleveland tomorrow and the next time I go back up to Michigan State could be March, so it’s hard to say goodbye to my friends. … The thing I’m going to miss the most is the people.”