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Sports | Football

FOOTBALL

MSU looks for a boost into the elite

The league of the elite in college football is one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. This season, the MSU football team has been doing everything it can to get noticed and let in the door to join the rest of college football’s elite.

FOOTBALL

Spartans fans take Orlando

Orlando, Fla. — When MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis was campaigning to bowl officials to choose the No. 7 Spartans for a BCS game following their 11-1 Big Ten championship season, one of his main selling points was the willingness of the Green and White fans to travel anywhere in the country to watch their team play. The Spartans didn’t receive a bid to a BCS bowl, but fans are proving Hollis right in Orlando, Fla.

FOOTBALL

Capital matchup

As expected, Mark Dantonio and his No. 7 MSU football team were denied a BCS bid in favor of fellow conference champions Ohio State and Wisconsin. And yet, when the Spartans take on No. 15 Alabama in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1, 2011, in Orlando, Fla., Dantonio said he believes it will be MSU’s bowl game that is the best matchup involving any Big Ten team, including the Rose and Sugar bowls.

FOOTBALL

Dantonio prepares to face former mentor, Saban

About 11 years ago, T.J. Duckett was a confused 18-year-old freshman. Then a bruising tailback for the MSU football team, which was preparing to take on Florida in the 2000 Citrus Bowl, Duckett was with the Spartans in large part because he wanted to play for then-head coach Nick Saban.

FOOTBALL

Breakdown: MSU vs. Alabama

When the Spartans and No. 15 Crimson Tide play in the Capital One Bowl, set for 1 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2011, in Orlando, Fla., plenty will be at stake, including conference bragging rights and the chance to ring in their new year with a victory.

FOOTBALL

Tide hasn't lived up to expectations

A 9-3 overall record, 5-3 conference record and a berth in the Capital One Bowl versus the No. 7 ranked MSU Spartans would be considered a successful season at most programs across the country. Not at Alabama.

FOOTBALL

Spartan Nation Destination

Jamie Burns has been a Spartan his whole life, going to MSU sporting events since childhood. Burns, now a biosystems engineering freshman, went to every home football game this year and made trips to Ann Arbor University Park, Pa., and Evanston, Ill., to watch games. Now, he and his family have one final destination and one final game in one of the best seasons in MSU football history — Orlando, Fla., for the Capital One Bowl.

FOOTBALL

In many ways, Capital One is better than BCS

I know the system is a joke. I know it makes no sense to send an 11-1 Big Ten championship team that’s ranked No. 7 in the country to the Capital One Bowl, the same bowl it played in two years ago when it had a 9-3 record and finished behind Penn State and Ohio State in the conference.

FOOTBALL

No matter what bowl, MSU fans will enjoy game

No matter where the No. 7 MSU football team winds up — and it’s looking like Orlando, Fla., New Orleans or Miami right now — it will enjoy the warm weather and tradition-rich environment with a highly rated opponent, likely from the SEC, staring it down.