MSU Could Consolidate Its Eliteness Over the Next 2 Years

Folks, I don't have to tell you that we are currently living through one of the greatest epochs in MSU football history.  But how did we get here?  Of course, the coaches and talented players have a lot to do with it.  But if you think about long enough, you also start to see what seems like a little divine intervention (or a fortunate series of events).  You also start to see how this divine intervention could carry MSU to even greater heights.

Where I tend to see more divine intervention is in what happened to the top teams in the B1G during Dantonio's tenure at MSU.  We all know how Michigan faltered under Rich Rodriguez and how MSU was able to defeat the Rodriguez-led Wolverines three straight years.  That alone enhanced MSU's prestige throughout the state, but beyond that, Rodriguez' non-pro style allowed MSU to compete for recruits that may have typically gone to UM.  Guys like Edwin Baker and Larry Caper could have ended up at UM if Rodriguez was not there.

Ohio State experienced less of a collapse than UM when tattoo-gate brought Jim Tressel down.  But their stumble probably helped MSU defeat OSU in it's home stadium for the first time . . . in a long time.  The scandal also cost OSU a few scholarships, and while it's hard to quantify how that benefitted the Spartans, we can safely guess that it may have allowed MSU to pick up at least one more elite player than they normally would have - I'm thinking of someone like Ohio receiver Monty Madaris.

Now, UM and OSU do seem to be back on track.  Does that mean that the gods have stopped smiling on MSU.  I don't think so.  In fact, I think the gods have given MSU at least two more years to solidify their rise to the top.

Here's the deal.  I don't care what the preseason rankings say, the Spartans are going to be better this year than UM and OSU.  This year's Spartans are still more talented and farther along in their development than both UM and OSU, and OSU will likely experience some transition issues under Urban Meyer.  Thus, while MSU could still lose their game this year against either of those teams, I would say that if they played those teams 10 times, MSU would beat them 7 times.

We can start to get more worried in 2013.  That's when Brady Hoke's recruiting prowess will begin to pay off, and that's when OSU will likely have resolved all of its transition issues.  OSU in particular could be scary.  Braxton Miller will be a junior quarterback and the defensive line OSU will have that year could be monstrous.

So 2013 is when MSU will give way to the traditional powers?  Wrong.  Fortunately for us, MSU should be peaking in 2013 - depending on how many guys we lose to the NFL.  MSU should have a lot of seniors that year, and I'm talking star seniors, including: Andrew Maxwell, Le'Veon Bell, Dion Sims, William Golston, Max Bullough, Denicos Allen, Darqueze Dennard, and many more.  MSU will also certainly have it's wide receiver issues resolved.  Thus, I think that MSU could end up being stronger that year than both UM and OSU, and that should be Dantonio's best year to win a national championship.

So, in essence, I think the football gods have given MSU two more years to consolidate the eliteness of the football program.  During that time, MSU should be able to capitalize on its success and should be able to start competing for top recruits - not that the recruits MSU is getting now are chopped liver, but I mean that they should be able to win more recruiting battles.  By then, MSU should get several more guys drafted in the early rounds of the NFL.  We can already see how the success of guys like Jerel Worthy is starting to pay off on the recruiting trail - some top defensive tackles are looking at MSU.  That pay off should start to snowball over the next two years.

In short, if MSU does what I think it can do over the next two years, we don't need to worry about the rise of UM and OSU.  By 2015, MSU's status as an elite program could be pretty consolidated.