Michigan State's Embarrassing Loss to Alabama Crushing Blow to Big Ten
All factors considered, the Big Ten's bowl season isn't off to a bad start.
Despite two of its representatives possessing 5-7 regular-season records, the conference has earned a 3-2 record at the midway mark of its postseason play. The league has five bowl games left, with two teams favored to win their matchups on New Year's Day, according to Odds Shark.
But regardless of what Ohio State does in the Fiesta Bowl or how Michigan fares in the Citrus Bowl, only one game will stand out for the conference when it comes to this season's bowl slate.
And for the Big Ten, Michigan State's Cotton Bowl Classic and College Football Playoff semifinal against Alabama might as well have doubled as a black eye for the rest of the Big Ten.
With the Crimson Tide putting together a 38-0 shutout of the Spartans, Michigan State squandered the Big Ten's opportunity to repeat as College Football Playoff champion. It wasn't just that the Spartans lost, but rather how, being outgained by a 440-239 margin and losing the turnover (2-0) battle to Alabama.
When all was said and done, the Crimson Tide had scored nearly as many points as the Spartans had accumulated rushing yards (39) in Arlington's AT&T Stadium.
"We've gotta pick up the pieces and move forward," Mark Dantonio said in his postgame press conference.
In that capacity, Dantonio has his work cut out, with the eligibility of quarterback Connor Cook and star defensive end Shilique Calhoun having both expired heading into 2016.
In a suddenly loaded Big Ten East, Michigan State will enter the new year as, once again, an afterthought. Urban Meyer's Ohio State and Jim Harbaugh's Michigan are each on upward trajectories, with the Buckeyes and Wolverines currently laying claim to 2016's No. 1 and No. 2 recruiting classes.
But before Ohio State—and especially Michigan—can receive the benefit of the doubt in next year's national title discussion, they must first erase the sins committed by Michigan State on New Year's Eve. After all, it was the Spartans and not the Buckeyes or Wolverines representing the Big Ten in this year's playoff, after earning head-to-head road wins over both of their division rivals in 2015.
And in that sense, maybe we should've seen this coming, with Michigan State needing a miracle of a fumble return on a punt to beat Michigan and a rainy day and questionable play-calling to upend Ohio State. Add in nail-biting wins over Oregon and Iowa, and the Spartans had built a reputation as a team of destiny, but in reality they were probably just the luckiest of the league's 14 teams this season.
Nevertheless, it was Michigan State that was representing the Big Ten on the sport's biggest stage, falling in lopsided fashion to the SEC's poster child for its seven-year national title streak from 2006-2012.
A year ago, the Buckeyes seemed to drive a stake through the heart of the Crimson Tide—and by extension, the SEC—with their semifinal upset in the Sugar Bowl, but in one night, the goodwill the Big Ten had built in the past year had been undone by the Spartans' shortcomings.
And while that may not be entirely fair—after all, Michigan State and Alabama truly represent their programs and their programs alone—that's the reality of perception in today's day and age of college football. Ever since chants of "S-E-C, S-E-C" reverberated throughout the sport's landscape for the better part of a decade, conference pride has been taken to a new level, with even Ohio State fans admitting they were pulling for their new rival Thursday night.
Bowl season, and especially the playoff, have encouraged that mindset, with head-to-head matchups on prominent stages. The Big Ten and SEC have met in each of the first two playoffs, and it's likely, if not inevitable, they will in the coming ones as well.
As far as comparisons are concerned, the two leagues will square off three more times this bowl season, giving the Big Ten the opportunity to walk away from postseason play with a 3-1 record over what is once again perceived to be college football's top conference.
But for the next 365 days, all many will remember is the embarrassing way in which Michigan State lost to Alabama on the national stage.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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