Ranking the top 50 college football programs of all time

Michigan State is coming off its worst season under Mark Dantonio, but the Spartans have still won 11 games in four of the past six years. The 3-9 campaign in 2016 definitely hurt, but that seems more like an extreme outlier than anything else.

Dantonio has turned the program around after John L. Smith basically ran it into the ground following Bobby Williams and Nick Saban’s reigns. The Spartans are 90-42 during Dantonio’s 10-year reign, but this past year has put a damper on things.

Prior to the 2016 season, the Spartans had made nine straight bowl games, winning four out of the past five. During that stretch, the Spartans had won the Rose, Cotton and Outback Bowls, even making the College Football Playoff in 2015 before getting dismantled by Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

The Spartans have also won three Big Ten titles since 2010 after having gone 20 years without one before Dantonio. Michigan State has 11 conference titles in school history, nine of which have been since it joined the Big Ten. Also, the Spartans have made the Big Ten Championship three times since its inaugural game in 2011.

There have been 31 consensus All-Americans in the history of the program but never a Heisman winner. Some notable alumni include Bubba Smith, Lorenzo White, Percy Snow, Tico and T.J. Duckett, Charles Rogers, Le’Veon Bell, Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer, Tony Mandarich, Flozell Adams, Morten Anderson, Darqueze Dennard and Trae Waynes.