2019 wrap-up
The Spartans needed this badly. 2016 was a huge bust and last year was disappointing, to say the least. A good 2017 was sandwiched in there, but the trajectory of this program was in the wrong direction. The season ended with rumors of Mark Dantonio’s impending retirement. The college football world around Michigan State wasn’t pretty, and was getting uglier. This good bowl performances put an important cap on a decent season. Most importantly, perhaps, the offensive explosion in the bowl game (especially passing the ball) signals that a Dantonio offense can still be effective. More than anything else, Michigan State needed to make that statement, and that’s exactly what the Spartans did.
2020 Impact
It’s hard to manage expectations for the Michigan State program nowadays? Should we be expecting anywhere close to the run in the middle of the 2010s, with consistent Top 10 seasons and a CFP trip? Is 6-6 really too low of an expectation when stuck in a division with Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State? The Spartans will face both Iowa and Minnesota in cross-divisional play; it’s hard to expect a team to win both of those games.
So where, exactly, does that leave Michigan State? This team won’t be getting preseason hype like it has for most of the past decade. And maybe 7-5 or 8-4 is the best that is fair to hope for at this point. Keeping that in mind, it’s hard to say what impact, if any, this bowl win had on the Spartans. At least now the program stopped its nosedive, but the road back up is a very steep uphill.