But if she’d attended, Jorgensen said, she would’ve missed out.

“It was incredible,” she said. “This place was packed wall-to-wall. There were so many people they had to shut down the kitchen. You couldn’t walk in here. There was screaming and cheering. It was fabulous.”

Scott Jorgensen, a 1978 MSU alumnus, attended Crunchy’s with his wife during the last Rose Bowl in 1988, and he said they returned hoping for a big win.

“It’s finishing a goal that the team put forward, and the alumni base has supported them, good and bad, to see the program develop into consistent winners,” Scott Jorgensen said. “I’m proud to be a Spartan.”

The sentiment of anticipating great things for the MSU football program is something Jean Jorgensen understands and shares in.

“I have been looking forward to this for months, no, 26 years,” she said. “It’s respectability. It’s MSU finally getting the respect they deserve rather than being in the shadow of U-M. It’s everything.”

And that pride isn’t reserved only for older generations of Spartans.

Though environmental biology junior Kyle Deplancke hadn’t been born the last time MSU went to the Rose Bowl, he said he still is just as passionate about the game’s outcome.

“I take more pride in going to this school than anything else,” Deplancke said. “I came back yesterday for New Year’s and the Rose Bowl, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, (except) Pasadena. This game means a lot — the whole country is watching.”

Deplancke added that with most students still away on holiday, it was actually more fun to watch the game in East Lansing bars or pubs.

Many restaurants and bars hosted special events or tailgates and featured food and drink specials.

“Tonight, it’s perfect,” said Deplancke, who took in the game at Dublin Square Irish Pub. “There’s space and open seats. Everyone’s having fun and wearing green.”

Other students enjoying in the gameday celebrations found the chanting and cheering a lively break from studying.

“As a Ph.D. student, I am always studying,” said Peter Penar, a political science graduate student who also spent the evening at Dublin. “This game breaks up the studying and the research and makes you feel a part of the university. Win or lose, (there were) big accomplishments this season.”