NOTE: The views expressed in this EDITORIAL do not necessarily reflect the views of Detroit Sports Nation or a majority of its writers and should not be misconstrued as such. The views contained within are the views of the author and the author alone.
College football is a crazy game. I’ve yet to see a sport produce more crazy finishes, wild crowds, historic upsets, questionable calls, and out-of-this-world plays on a weekly basis.
Almost everything is completely out of your control. I can guarantee you not one player for Penn State or Michigan State was pleased with the 3+ hour weather delay in East Lansing last Saturday, but there was nothing any of those players could do about it. Point being, when you have an opportunity to control something, take advantage of it.
That’s what this Michigan State football team has in front of them right now; control. Control of their own destiny to win the Big Ten east that is. That is something many teams would love have to right now in this crazy college football world we live in, like Penn State for instance. Two weeks ago their fans were chanting “we want Bama” after a 42-13 thrashing of Michigan. But after consecutive losses to Ohio State and Michigan State (recap), the Nittany Lions are now squarely out of the Big Ten East race, barring utter chaos in the last three weeks of the season.
They have no control of their own destiny; Michigan State does.
If the Spartans can win out, they’ll be heading to the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. Now that might seem like a tall task with a trip to Columbus coming up this weekend to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. But if they can get past that, they have two very doable games remaining on the schedule; home vs. Maryland, and at Rutgers.
In other words, a win over the Buckeyes this weekend would put the Spartans in firm control of the Big Ten East race in what’s shaping up to be a de facto division title game.
Should they take care of business the remainder of the way out, a date with (in all likelihood) Wisconsin awaits them at Lucas Oil Stadium. Of course, if you win that game you’re conference champions. Now I know it might seem like I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but for the purposes of this piece, that’s what I’m supposed to do because this is where things get a little bit more interesting.
Becoming a Big Ten champion would put Michigan State’s record at 11-2 (8-2 Big Ten), with wins over Iowa, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. The losses would be to Notre Dame early in the season, when the Spartans consistently shot themselves in the foot in a game where they actually out-gained the Irish by over 100 yards, and on the road against Northwestern in triple overtime. The Wildcats might finish this season with nine wins and head to a decent bowl game and Notre Dame is currently No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
All that being said, that sounds like a pretty impressive resume for the Spartans if it were to happen.
So now what? What would happen with this Michigan State team then? They would certainly be heading to a New Year’s Six Bowl, but potentially something more than that would come into play here too; a College Football Playoff berth. I know it sounds crazy, but believe me when I tell you it’s possible. A few things would have to happen first but they’re not unrealistic possibilities.
First of all, either Georgia or Alabama would have to enter the SEC Championship Game with at least one loss. That very well could happen when you consider they both have to play at Auburn in the final month of the season. In that scenario, the SEC only gets one team in the playoff. The ACC will also get either Clemson or Miami. That takes up two spots. But as long as Washington loses at least one more game, the Pac-12 won’t be getting a team in the playoff and there’s a very good possibility the Big 12 champion finishes with two losses. If Notre Dame loses at Miami this weekend, or at Stanford at the end of the year, it’s hard to see them making it as a two-loss team who isn’t even part of a conference. That leaves two open spots for a potential two-loss Big Ten champion to get in, and possibly a two-loss Big 12 champion.
It doesn’t sound that crazy, does it? Sure, you would need some help along the way but it’s not asking anything catastrophic to happen. It would require some things to go the Spartans’ way but I could see it happening. If nothing else, it’s a 50-50 shot. That’s what’ll happen if Michigan State can win out and win the Big Ten.
So to make everything above more simple, the Spartans control their own destiny to win the Big Ten, but not to make the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen though, and in this crazy college football world we live in now, controlling your own destiny to win your conference championship is quite a luxury to have anyways.
