Mark Dantonio: Michigan State would have won 2013 Playoff

College football fans have been clamoring for a playoff system for years, but Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio wishes the College Football Playoff would have been around one year sooner, because he thinks the Spartans would be the reigning champions.

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Michigan State was as good as any team at the end of the season last year when they defeated previously-undefeated Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship and then won a slugfest against Stanford in the Rose Bowl to finish as the No. 3 team in the nation.

However, Dantonio believes if the playoff format was around last season, the Spartans would have finished No. 1 and it wouldn’t have been Auburn and Florida State playing in the Championship Game.

“I thought we would have been national champions, to be perfectly honest with you,” Dantonio told reporters at Big Ten media days Tuesday, per the Detroit News. “I think we would have had a shot to do that because I think we were playing, coming out of the end of the season — that stretch coming out of the season — we were playing great football and we were believing in ourselves.”

A playoff would have consisted of Florida State, Auburn, Michigan State and likely Alabama, so it would have been a tough trek to advance for Dantonio’s Spartans, but with that defense they had a year ago, they would have had a shot to hoist the trophy.

This likely won’t be received well in Tallahassee, but you have to admire the confidence of Dantonio, I mean what else is he supposed to say? That he didn’t have a championship-caliber team and he’s happy with being in the top-five?

Dantonio will get a shot to win the 2014 Playoff with Connor Cook and Jeremy Langford leading the Spartans attack and they may get a crack at Florida State and the SEC in the process.

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Mark Dantonio: Michigan State Spartans would have been national champions in 2013 playoff

By Patrick Schmidt | Jul 30, 2014