MSU: Best team ever?

Submitted by Bixler on

MSU did something this year that they have only done two other times, that is to achieve double digit wins in a season.  Previously they won 10 games in 1999 and in 1965.  Having won 11 games this season and with the potential, although slim, to win a 12th game, is this the best team that Sparty has fielded in their history?

I am actually surprised that they have now done this only three times.  I thought with their long history, they would have done it more often.  Guess this is a testament to their mediocrity over much of the past 100 years.  As a comparison, Michigan has achieved double digit wins 25 times!  Guess that is why we are the Leaders and Best!  Go Blue!

david from wyoming

December 29th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^

Since more games are added to the schedule every year, it dilutes it down. A team that got 9 wins in 9 games is statistically better than a team that got 9 wins in 12 games.

Sebastian

December 29th, 2010 at 8:45 PM ^

It`s good for everyone to understand that they are to love their enemies, simply because your enemies show you things about yourself you need to change. So in actuality enemies are friends in reverse.

Bixler

December 29th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^

I made this post because I thought it might get a good discussion going.  It's better than another CC thread!  I am in my 40's, so I don't remember the 1950's and 1960's, but am aware that Sparty had some good teams.  If they had a history of being good, it would not matter how many games they played. Michigan had double digit wins seven times before 1947.  Of course those were undefeated seasons and there was little room for error.

M-Wolverine

December 29th, 2010 at 6:16 PM ^

Is "no". They've had National Championship teams, and this is a team most likely to get waxed by Alabama (and they did by Iowa). You don't have to have been alive to know some history. I didn't fight in WWII, but I know it happened. To have a discussion, at least bone up on the history first. And then when you realize it's become "who's the best MSU team of all time", guess it's probably not MGoBlog material. Now, in the off season next week, if you want to ask "'97 team- better than Bo's best, Yost's teams, or the Mad Magicians?", THEN we're rolling.

skunk bear

December 29th, 2010 at 6:15 PM ^

I believe that MSU claims 6 national championships.

Their '65 and '66 teams were considered among the greatest college football teams of all-time at the time.

In the early '50's they had a 28 game winning streak.

All while playing some of the nation's toughest schedules.

From 1947-1966 they were a national power, perhaps 2nd only to Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma teams. Sort of like Miami(YTM) from 1980-1999

Tater

December 29th, 2010 at 6:32 PM ^

What makes this really funny is that MSU fans are the first to accuse Michigan fans of "living in the past" whenever all-time records are brought up.  I think MSU going 11-1 and being stuck in the Crap-it-all One bowl says a lot more about MSU's "relevance" than I could in a book's worth of expletives.

coastal blue

December 29th, 2010 at 8:19 PM ^

Yeah, I'm confused by people putting down the Capitol One Bowl. Outside of the BCS games, it's the biggest bowl game in CFB with the most prestigious non-BCS Bowl match-up.

I dislike MSU as much as the next guy, but going to the Capitol One Bowl is a good season.

bjk

December 30th, 2010 at 12:00 AM ^

undefeated teams in '51 and '52. I don't believe they were fully in the Western Conference/Big Ten yet, so no Rose Bowl until after the '53 season.

It appears (Wiki) that their all-time bowl record v. USC is 2-0.

They seem to have been much bigger before 1966 or so than at any time since. A lot of this co-incides with UM's sort-of nadir after Woody took over down south in 1951 and before Bo came in '69, so there doesn't appear to be any serious stretch of what one could call memorable rivalry games.

bjk

December 30th, 2010 at 12:07 AM ^

(1901-4, for instance) were before the Western Conference, and other governing authorities, started limiting the number of games in a season to seven or so, and then working their way back up. Don't get me wrong; in this case, we're clearly better-established. Sparty doesn't go back as far, and hasn't really dominated in the last 44 years or so.

It just so happens that none of Sparty's years of greatness appear to line up with our own, unlike Brown U.'s in the 1890's, or Minnesota's in the '20's-'50's.

Spar-Dan

December 30th, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^

BS.  MSU fans know we had a good season, but we have no illusions about this team.  The schedule worked in our favor, we didn't have key injuries, and we played decent defense.  Any MSU fan that thinks this team was one for the ages only needs to que up the Iowa game for a reality check.  Also, we also know that the 65/66 team would have KILLED these guys.

AMazinBlue

December 29th, 2010 at 7:11 PM ^

but calling the 2010 version of Sparty football "the best ever" when they got blown out by Iowa and didn't play OSU is a stretch for me.  They have probably been the most resourceful version of sparty ever, or the most fortunate, but not the best.

Nothsa

December 29th, 2010 at 7:54 PM ^

To answer this seriously...

The schedule worked for them, and they got a little, maybe a lot lucky to beat Purdue and Notre Dame.

MSU took advantage of racial segregation in the South to develop those powerhouse mid-century teams. They recruited some great talent that couldn't play at Alabama and other SEC schools. By 1970 that well ran mostly dry.

There aren't a lot of really good MSU seasons since the 60's. Their late 80's Rose Bowl team (87? 88?) was a really good team. Saban had one pretty good season. That's about it. I think they were on probation one year in the late 70's, or they might have gone to Pasadena that season.

 

coastal blue

December 29th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^

I made the argument to a lot of my friends from MSU that the MSU-Iowa game was the biggest in the history of their program. If they won, they were almost garaunteed to go undefeated the rest of the way and had a legitimate shot at going to the title game.

It warmed my heart to see them face plant in such a grand manner.

Nothsa

December 29th, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^

That was before Iowa got the munchies. MSU just got shattered; it was hard not to think they were intimidated by the moment. That was just MSU's second real road game - the first was in the friendly environment at Northwestern, where plenty of MSU fans showed up. Halloween in Iowa City is a very different kind of vibe. Their schedule didn't really prepare them to play up in a game of that magnitude.

BlueDragon

December 29th, 2010 at 8:54 PM ^

If you need last-minute heroics to beat Purdue and Northwestern, and get ravaged by Iowa, there is no logic in calling your team "great" by any reasonable standards.

When YTMSU starts getting high ratings outside of the midwest, then we'll talk about a Great Season in EL.