Will Michigan State football fans ever forget today’s come-from-behind, triple-overtime 33-30 win over Georgia in the Outback Bowl? Maybe, someday — if this new era of excellence that Coach Mark Dantonio has instilled in his first five years as head coach makes things like great achievements and never-say-die character a permanent feature of the Spartans’ long-awaited gridrion renaissance.

In the meantime, MSU football shines as brightly as it has in many years, and a grateful and proud Spartan Nation gets to start the new year basking in the glow.

Thanks to my MSU friend Kim Kittleman, who was at the game, for sharing this memento on Facebook.

In 2006, the last year in which the Spartans were coached by John L. Smith, Dantonio’s beleaguered predecessor, the team went 4-8, and the closest the players got to a bowl game was their television sets.

The rebuilding began immediately under Dantonio, and MSU has been to a bowl game in each of his five years heading the program. But even as the team’s play improved year by year, each season ended with a reminder that it had one more hill to climb — until today. As recently as January 1 last year, the co-Big 10 Champion Spartans got flattened by defending national champion Alabama, 49-7, in a Capital One Bowl Game that was utterly unwatchable.

But the 2011 Spartans proved, over and over, that they are not only talented, but resilient. After a flat performance in a week 3 loss to Notre Dame, MSU faced down a brutal October schedule, beating Ohio State with a dominant defensive performance in Columbus, skunking Michigan for the fourth consecutive year, and beating Wisconsin on the famous “Hail Mary” pass play. After finally running out of gas at Nebraska, the Spartans ran the table in November to clinch the Big 10′s first legends division championship.

Today, Michigan State had to put behind it the excruciatingly close (42-39) loss in the Big 10 championship game that sent Wisconsin to the Rose Bowl and MSU to the Outback Bowl. And for a half, it look like yet another team from the powerful Southeastern Conference was going to make short work of the Spartans and the Big 10.

An offense that started the game allowing a 2-point safety stayed stuck in quicksand, a defense (which overall outplayed Georgia’s offense by a good margin) allowed an 80-yard touchdown play, and a heart-sickening 94-yard punt return for a touchdown sent the Bulldogs to the locker room with a 16-0 lead.

But the Spartans came back again… and again… and again. With the defense shutting down Georgia’s offense, MSU scored three times to take a 20-19 lead. Georgia came back with what could have been a clinching touchdown, leading 27-20, but senior quarterback Kirk Cousins led the team on a near-perfect two-minute drill to tie the game and send it into overtime.

When Michigan State escaped disaster in the first overtime, fans had to start believing that it was just meant to be. Cousins threw an interception that cost MSU a chance to score on its first possession, meaning Georgia just needed a field goal to win. But when they tried, their kicker pushed it just wide right.

The teams traded field goals in the 2nd OT, and then Michigan State added another field goal to start the third round. That was when the defense rose to the occasion, stopping Georgia cold… and then blocking a long field goal attempt and making Spartan fans among the happiest people in America today.

As I posted on Facebook when they were just heading into overtime, I would have been proud of the determination the team showed, whatever the outcome. I, and I’m sure most of my Spartan brothers and sisters, want to take a last opportunity to thank Kirk Cousins, receivers B.J. Cunningham and Keshawn Martin, and all the other seniors for setting all kinds of records and putting Michigan State back on the national football map.

And thanks to all the other players who contributed so much to that success. We’ll be back with you for that opener against Boise State next August and beyond, rooting you on to higher heights.

Go Green!

Yes, Michigan State’s 42-39 loss to Wisconsin in last night’s Big 10 Championship football game hurts. No use denying it. As someone who attended MSU because of my youthful dream to be a sportscaster, and who has bled Spartan green ever since, feeling sad when we lose — especially when our team comes this close — just goes with the territory.

Yet it would be hard for me … and I presume many of my MSU friends … to be prouder of this team if they had pulled out that game and carried us on their backs to the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance in 24 years.

I feel badly that stellar seniors such as quarterback Kirk Cousins, receivers B.J. Cunningham and Keshawn Martin, and defensive back Trenton Robinson, will miss out on that trip to Pasadena, especially after coming so close.

But these players should know that we will remember them not for this 3-point loss, but as the leaders who restored success and confidence to a program that was dead in the water when they arrived in East Lansing four or five years ago.

They have won 21 games to only five losses over the past two years, sharing the Big 10 championship last year and playing their hearts out yesterday in the conference’s first-ever championship game. They will leave school with all kinds of individual and team records on their football resumes. But even if they’d done nothing else, they would be embraced by Spartan Nation for having beaten arch-rival Michigan four times in a row.

While I’m sure that Russell Wilson, Wisconsin’s superbly talented quarterback, is the toast of Madison today, he is hardly the kind of transformational figure that Cousins has been at MSU. In fact, Wilson hasn’t been in Madison long enough for his cup of coffee to get cold.

Wilson, who played his first three years of college eligibility in relative obscurity at North Carolina State, got to play this year for Wisconsin only because of one of the more absurd of the NCAA’s many absurd rules: the one that allows a player with remaining eligibility to enroll as a graduate student at another school and play immediately, rather than sit out a season as is required of undergraduate transfers.

Unless another star falls out of the sky and lands in their lap, Wisconsin will start next season where they would have been this year if Wilson hadn’t popped in for a visit: with a totally inexperienced quarterback. MSU, meanwhile, has been grooming Andrew Maxwell as Cousins’ understudy for two years, and though his appearances on the field have been brief, he has shown signs that he will be an able successor.

And, oh, yes, Maxwell is also a Big 10 distinguished scholar-athlete.

You see, Spartan Pride is partially about sports: the footballl team’s revival under Coach Mark Dantonio, the men’s basketball team’s long run of success under Coach Tom Izzo; Suzy Merchant’s defending Big 10 champion women’s basketball team; the men’s hockey team, a young squad in its first season under Coach Tom Anastos, which has lost only one of its last 10 games to boost its season record to 10-5-1; and many others who represent the school in green and white.

But it’s not just about sports. Not hardly.

We were beaming this past week when The New York Times published results of an international survey of business executives that found Michigan State ranked 20th among U.S. colleges where their companies look to recruit new employees. That placed MSU second among Big 10 schools, behind only Northwestern (and yes, ahead of University of Michigan), and fifth among public universities, behind only UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, University of North Carolina and University of Virginia.

Spartan Pride is also about community. I can tell you from my personal experience that the welcome I have received from the Chicago Spartans club and the friends I have made through it made my transition to my new city feel more like a homecoming.

And that’s why, if you live in or visit Chicago, and see a big block S in the middle of a green flag flying at dozens of taverns and restaurants and in hundreds of home windows, you’ll know why. Spartans just have a lot to be proud about.

Only a diehard Michigan State fan could have devoted much time this afternoon to watching the Spartans’ 55-3 drubbing of Indiana, the team with the worst record in the Big 10 this year. The competitive aspect of the game was as good as over by the end of the first quarter, with MSU leading 17-0, and certainly by halftime, with the home team ahead by 34-3.

Yet despite the lopsided score, it was a game that will be a warm memory for the citizens of Spartan Nation. It enabled MSU to clinch first place in the Big 10′s Legends Division and a spot in the first-ever conference championship in Indianapolis on Dec. 3.

Coach Mark Dantonio shows off MSU's brand new Legends Division trophy, with quarterback Kirk Cousins watching on. Source: MSU

(And it is with some irony that I note the favor the Spartans received from their archrivals in Ann Arbor, as Michigan eliminated Nebraska — who held the tie-breaker with MSU if the teams ended up with the same record — with a 45-17 romp of their own.)

And it also put a spotlight on the senior class leaders of this Michigan State team, who were nearly flawless in the final home game of their college careers, and set a team record for most wins by any class in school history.

Maybe we college sports fanatics do take these games played by very young men, some just out of high school, way too seriously. But it is obvious that those of us who do identify closely with their schools take great satisfaction when their sports teams win.

So I’m sure I am not the only Michigan Stater who today wants to say thanks to the seniors who did so much to restore championship dreams and pride to a program that for decades had been known more for its struggles than its successes.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins, a leader and role model on and off the field.

Coach Mark Dantonio greets quarterback Kirk Cousins after lifting him from today's runaway game with Indiana. Source: MSU

Source: Michigan State University

Wide receivers B.J. Cunningham, the team’s career leader in pass receptions, and versatile Keyshawn Martin, with his NFL-scale speed, moves and ability to return kicks.

Keith Nichol, a highly recruited high school quarterback who converted to receiver after Cousins beat him out at QB, whose “Hail Mary” game-winning touchdown catch in this year’s Homecoming game against Wisconsin will be replayed for years.

Excellent tight ends Brian Linthicum and Garrett Celek.

Joel Foreman, a 315-pound offensive lineman who enjoyed some kind of wish fulfillment late in today’s game when he took a handoff and ran three yards for a first down.

Source: MSU

Two defensive stalwarts, safety Trenton Robinson and tackle Kevin Pickelman, who joined one of the worst-rated defenses in college football when they were freshmen and leave as members of one of the nation’s top defensive squads.

And several other less heralded players who got to come out to midfield and hug their parents at the Seniors Day ceremony before today’s game.

These players took a leap of faith when they committed to then-new MSU Coach Mark Dantonio’s vision for turning around the losing team he inherited from predecessor John L. Smith. In 2006, when today’s seniors were high school stars deciding which college they wanted to attend, MSU went 4-8, losing its final four games and eight of its last nine. The team gave up a mind-boggling 341 points in those 12 games, with a largely non-existent pass defense.

In 2007 —  Dantonio’s first year as coach, and the year in which most of this year’s seniors signed to play at Michigan State — the team improved its regular season record to 7-5, but had to overcome lingering defensive problems (322 points in 12 games). It was that year’s loss to Michigan in East Lansing, in which the Spartans squandered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, that prompted Wolverine running back Mike Hart’s infamous cheap shot about Michigan State being Michigan’s “little brother” in football.

And Dantonio also inherited player discipline issues that had long plagued Spartan teams. Just two years ago, after a lopsided loss at home to Penn State that ended the regular season with a disappointing 6-6 record, 10 football team members engaged on an on-campus brawl that led to two of them being kicked out of school and eight others being suspended for the team’s bowl game against Texas Tech.

But then, suddenly, the Michigan State team gelled in 2010. Dantonio’s audacious call for a fake field goal play, nicknamed Little Giants, that resulted in the game-winning touchdown against Notre Dame appeared to light a fire under the players, who ended up with an 11-1 regular season record (the best ever in school history) and a 7-1 mark in the Big 10 that was good for a three-way tie for the conference championship.

And this year, MSU is 9-2, 6-1 in the Big 10, with a chance for its first trip to the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl since 1988. And here’s the best part: While Cousins, Cunningham, Martin and company will be big shoes to fill, the senior class of 18 is actually quite small, and the team has received enormous contributions from many of its underclassmen. That gives us long-beleaguered MSU fans good reason for confidence that Dantonio is building the Spartans into an enduring Big 10 contender.

So, long-distance thanks for now. Thousands of Spartan faithful, including many of us Chicago-based alumni, will be out in force to give our thanks in person when MSU visits Northwestern in Evanston next Saturday for the regular season finale.

In the big picture, Michigan State’s 37-21 road win Saturday at Iowa is another sign of growth for a long-beleaguered football team on the rise. Iowa City is the the same place where a 37-6 thumping by the Hawkeyes ended the Spartans’ 8-0 run at the start of the 2010 season, just one year ago.

The game also had major short-term implications, though. This key win away from home boosted MSU’s Big 10 record to 5-1 and enabled them to stay one game ahead of Nebraska and Michigan in the race for first place in the conference’s Legends Division and a trip to the first-ever Big 10 football championship game in Indianapolis on December 3.

The Spartans can, of course, simplify matters by winning their final two remaining games of the regular season. No one can catch them if they do.

Next Saturday’s game against Indiana is a must-win simply because the game is at Spartan Stadium and the Hoosiers have the worst record in the Big 10 this year, 1-9 overall and 0-6 in the Big 10. (For some perspective, Indiana lost their game at Iowa on Oct. 22 by a score of 45-24.)

MSU should also be favored in their final regular season game at Northwestern, which is 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big 10. But the Wildcats, who have dynamic offense, can’t be taken lightly, as they showed in their big upset at Nebraska a couple of games ago.

So just for insurance, wouldn’t it be great if MSU beat Indiana on Saturday, and then clinched the division because Nebraska lost its game?

Except that rooting against Nebraska, in this circumstances, requires overcoming a crisis of conscience for Michigan State fans. Because the Cornhuskers’ game Saturday is in Ann Arbor… against University of Michigan.

The thought of every rooting for the Wolverines to win anything — even a pub quiz — is appalling to most Spartans (just as I’m sure the thought of ever rooting for Michigan State is something that Michigan fans can’t wrap their minds around). And I know I could be deported from Spartan Nation for saying this, but sometimes we just have to be… practical.

A Michigan win over Nebraska would help Michigan State… big time. And why is that? Because MSU lost its game at Nebraska a couple of weeks back, giving the Cornhuskers the tie-breaker should the two teams end up tied for first. But on Oct. 15, Michigan State beat Michigan, and therefore would hold the tie-breaker in the odd chance that MSU and UM ended up tied for first place in the division.

Wait, I just haven’t tired of repeating that yet. Michigan State beat Michigan. Michigan State beat Michigan, 28-14, at Spartan Stadium. That marked Michigan State’s fourth consecutive football victory over Michigan, whose star running back the year before that streak started made the mistake of referring to MSU as Michigan’s “litte brother” in football.

OK, got that out of my system.

Now I’m not saying that I will be actively rooting for Michigan to win. I’m sure I’ll have something better to do than to watch that Nebraska-Michigan game. And you can take this assurance to the grave that the words, “Go Blue,” will never cross these lips. But if Michigan should end up scoring more points than Nebraska, I have to admit that would be a good thing.

And just imagine the bad taste it will leave in the mouths of Wolverine fans knowing that their team’s win enabled the Spartans to clinch their division!

It now boils down to these three teams, as Iowa suffered its third Big 10 loss this season in Saturday’s game with Michigan State, and the math to come up with a four-way tie in which Iowa would hold the tie-breaker is just to exotic to figure. It’s easier to just assume that Nebraska will beat Iowa when they play in Lincoln at the end of the regular season.

While assuming nothing for the last two weeks of the season, the fates appear to be conspiring for a rematch of the Michigan State-Wisconsin “Hail Mary” thriller earlier this season.

Wisconsin actually still trails Penn State by one game in the Leaders division. But Penn State’s team not only is carrying the burden of the horrendous scandal that last week prompted the firing of Joe Paterno — the team’s head coach for the past 46 years — but also plays its final two games on the road, at Ohio State and at Wisconsin. And, of course, a tie would go to the Badgers if they beat Penn State head-to-head.

When you wake up way early on Saturday morning to take care of some pressing chores, and you get to witness a sunrise as purty as the one in these photos, you just have a feeling it is going to be a great day. And so it has been so far, for me and my fellow Michigan State football fight, who watch our rising Spartans score a huge road win at Iowa by the score of 37-21.

The win boosted MSU to an overall record of 8-2 and, more importantly in relation to our postseason hopes, 6-1 in the Big 10, ensuring that the Spartans will maintain their one-game lead over Nebraska (and possibly Michigan, depending on the outcome of their game today at Illinois) with just two games left in the regular season.

That means if Michigan State shows up to play on their home field next week against Indiana, the last-place team in the conference, and Nebraska loses at Michigan, the Spartans would clinch a trip to the first-ever Big 10 football championship game on Dec. 3 in Indianapolis, regardless of the outcome of the regular season finale against Northwestern up the lake in Evanston. Defeat Indiana and Northwestern, and the Spartans will win the division, regardless of what their rivals do.

There are at least two things that made today’s victory especially satisfying for Spartan Nation.

First, the result was almost an exact reversal of last year’s game on the same field in Iowa City, which MSU entered with an undefeated season record and a #5 ranking and exited with a 37-6 bruising. Last year, the halftime score was Iowa 31, MSU 0. This year it was MSU 31, Iowa 7. Props to the Hawkeye players for stepping it up in the second half despite the first half blowout, and even rattling our nerves as they pushed for a score with about three minutes left that could have cut the margin to one score. But a fumble resulting from a great defensive play, one of many for MSU this season, settled the issue.

Second, the win hopefully dispels the idea that Michigan State can’t win big games on the road. This was a tag that was getting stuck to the Spartans, because their only four losses over this season and last came away from Spartan Stadium, and scores in all of those games were one-sided. Hopefully this will boost the team’s confidence for the finale at Northwestern, a team that has struggled for a good part of this season, but showed with last week’s upset win at Nebraska that they are not to be taken lightly.

I will have more to say later. In the meantime, Bob’s birthday week continues shortly at a festival held at Chicago’s Irish-American Heritage Center. Slainte, and Go Green!