College Football Playoff 2017: Case for the Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State football has an outside shot at making the 2017 College Football Playoff. Has that ship sailed or could the Spartans make a run?

There were no Big Ten teams ranked in the top four of the initial College Football Playoff rankings. With two SEC teams in the top four there seems to be at least one spot that could be up for grabs by seasons’ end. The Big Ten, at least right now, looks better positioned than both the Big 12 and the Pac 12 to catapult a team into the top four.

Teams like Ohio State (No. 6), Penn State (No. 7) and Wisconsin (No. 9) are all understandably at the front of the list of potential Big Ten representatives. While all three of those schools have a legitimate case for the Playoff there could be a dark horse candidate emerge from what could be the deepest conference in then nation.

Michigan State (6-2) is still very much alive in the Big Ten race. Their lone conference loss came in overtime against Northwestern. Up that point they’d suffered one other blemish, a 20 point beatdown at the hands of No. 3 Notre Dame.

Between those losses the Spartans posted wins over Iowa at home and on the road against then No. 7 Michigan and Minnesota. Let’s take a closer look at the Spartans case for the College Football Playoff.