The Spartans were down 13-9 with half a minute to play when L.J. Scott lunged forward and stretched the ball over the goal line for a touchdown to push the Spartans past No. and 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.
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It wasn’t a game, it was a grind and for most of the showdown between Iowa and Michigan State, it was a defensive masterpiece on both sides.
Michigan State moved up two spots to No. 3 behind Clemson and Alabama in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday.
The Crimson Tide is the only team that also played in the first four-team playoff last season. The only real debate was the order. As the top seed, the Tigers get to play as close to home as possible. The Spartans lost in the Independence, Sun and Aloha bowls in Saban’s first three seasons, but did win the Citrus Bowl over Florida his final season – after he had already left to start his job at LSU.
The game will be the sixth night game for the Spartans this year.
Long said bumping Michigan State past Oklahoma had nothing to do with avoiding the possibility of having the Sooners play close to home in the Dallas area.
And that was it for drama, if you could even call it that.
The final College Football Playoff Rankings were announced Sunday afternoon, and the Big Ten will be represented by Michigan State in the playoff.
Oklahoma slipped one spot to No. 4. Both were traveling. The Sooners last won a national title in 2000, Stoops’ second season in Norman. Thousands were in attendance to feast on the Tigers’ success and pepperoni. For the second straight year we see four different conferences represented in the playoff.
Saban was 34-21-1 in five seasons at Michigan State (1995-99) before going to LSU, then later the National Football League and to Alabama in 2007.
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Michigan State has one AP national championship to its credit, back in 1952.
