The 2013 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Michigan State played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan and were led by seventh year head coach Mark Dantonio. The Spartans finished the year 13–1, 8–0 and undefeated in Big Ten play. By winning the Legends Division, they earned a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game, their second appearance in the championship game. Facing No. 2-ranked Ohio State, they defeated the Buckeyes 34–24, knocking Ohio State out of the running for the BCS National Championship Game. The Spartans received an invitation to the Rose Bowl, their first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1988. There they defeated No. 5-ranked Stanford for the school's first Rose Bowl win since 1988.
Offseason
2013 NFL draft Three members of the 2012 Spartan football team were selected in the 2013 NFL draft Round Pick# Team Player Position 2 48 Pittsburgh Steelers Le'Veon Bell Running Back 4 106 Miami Dolphins Dion Sims Tight End 4 126 Tampa Bay Buccaneers William Gholston Defensive End
In addition, five other former Spartans were taken as undrafted free agents: Team Player PositionHouston Texans Johnny Adams CornerbackOakland Raiders Larry Caper Running BackNew England Patriots Chris McDonald GuardPittsburgh Steelers Anthony Rashad White Nose TackleOakland Raiders Mitchell White Cornerback
Michigan State remained one of only seven teams to have had a player selected in each draft since the AFL/NFL merger.
Transfers out Juwan Caesar, Wide Receiver Jeremy Gainer, Defensive End, graduated and moved to Central Michigan University. Jay Harris, Wide Receiver Kyle Kerrick, Wide Receiver
Returning players Of the 22 starters from 2012, 16 returned for the 2013 campaign. The offense lost only two starters—Sims and Bell—while seven of the starting defensive players return. Junior punter Mike Sadler was the sole returning specialist. The Spartans retained their leaders in passing yards and touchdowns (Maxwell) and receiving yards and touchdowns (Fowler), but lost their leaders in rushing yards and touchdowns (Bell) and interceptions (Adams).
Early NFL departures The three Spartans drafted were all early departures; Bell, Gholston, and Sims had all just finished their junior year."Three Juniors Forgo Senior Seasons; Enter 2013 NFL Draft ". Michigan State Official Athletic Site. Retrieved July 8, 2013. No other underclassmen declared for the draft."NFL Draft Underclassmen Tracker". National Football League. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
Recruiting class
Schedule
Rankings
Game summaries Western Michigan
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Michigan State's 2013 campaign kicked off against Western Michigan with a Friday night battle at Spartan Stadium. Michigan State came into the game with a 10–2 all-time record against the Broncos, who were led by first-year head coach P. J. Fleck. This game was part of the "Celebrate the State" series pitting MSU against Eastern, Central, and Western Michigan over ten seasons. Coming into the game, the Spartans had not lost a home opener since 1998.
The game started with stifling defense. The Spartans were able to secure two first downs on their opening drive and were forced to punt. After both teams went three-and-out, the Broncos appeared to gain some momentum on their second drive. However, on third-and-eleven, Broncos quarterback Tyler Van Tubbergen's pass was intercepted by Jarus Jones. While being tackled, Jones lateraled the ball to Kurtis Drummond, who ran the remaining 21 yards for a touchdown. After both teams exchanged punts, Van Tubbergen again threw an interception. After the interception, Connor Cook took over the quarterbacking duties for the Spartans, but this drive also ended in a punt, as did the two after it. The Broncos took over with 11:31 left in the second quarter, and Van Tuubergen threw two incomplete passes in driving rain. At this point – 9:03 pm – the game was postponed due to lightning. The teams went to their locker rooms and would resume the contest 57 minutes later.
On their next drive, the Broncos were bolstered by a 45-yard pass from Van Tubbergen to Timmy Keith. After Van Tubbergen was hurt two plays later, redshirt freshman Zach Terrell threw a touchdown in his first career snap. While the Spartans had to punt on the ensuing possession, their next drive was aided by 25 yards of penalties from the Broncos and a 26-yard completion from Andrew Maxwell to Bennie Fowler. Jeremy Langford finished off the drive with a touchdown, but Spartan kicker Kevin Muma did not make the point after attempt. After the kickoff, the Broncos let the remaining 22 seconds in the half expire.
Michigan State's second drive of the new half was spurred by a 33-yard punt return by Andre Sims and put the Spartans on the Bronco three-yard line on third down. Unable to convert, the Spartans settled for a field goal by Muma. Michigan State ended up in a similar position two drives later. An interception by Jairus Jones put Michigan State at Western's 12 yard line, but they were unable to gain any yardage and had to settle for a second field goal. Two drives later, Langford fumbled and Bronco Corey Sueing recovered, which stopped a Spartan drive 21 yards from the end zone. However, the Broncos ensuing drive came to an end when Marcus Rush stripped the ball when sacking Terrell. Shilique Calhoun recovered the ball and ran 16 yards for Michigan State's second defensive touchdown. While the game was effectively finished at that point, the Broncos finished the game with a 56-yard touchdown drive, but Terrell was unable to convert the 2-point conversion. With two minutes remaining and no Broncos timeouts left, the Spartans knelt down to run out the clock and earn their first win.
Each team punted 11 times during the game. The Spartans offense combined for 297 yards – 181 from rushing and 118 from passing. Western had 204 offensive yards, but were limited to only 11 yards rushing. The Spartans' two quarterbacks combined for 17 completions on 37 attempts, while the two Broncos quarterbacks went 18 for 48. Terrell lead all quarterbacks with 120 yards and 2 touchdowns. While the Broncos only averaged 0.4 yards per rushing attempt, the Spartans averaged 4.3. Led by Jeremy Langford (94 yds, 1 TD, 1 fumble), the Spartans also had strong rushing performances by Cook (35 yds), Nick Hill (33 yds), and Riley Bullough (12 yds). WMU true freshman Corey Davis led both sides in receiving (8 catches, 96 yds, 1 TD). The Spartans had their worst passing game (3.1 yards per passing attempt) in the 80 games coached by Dantonio.
South Florida
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The offense struggled against a South Florida defense that had surrendered 53 points the week before to FCS McNeese State. Jeremy Langford scored the Spartans lone offensive touchdown on a 2-yard run in the 4th quarter. Shilique Calhoun scored two defensive touchdowns, the first coming in the second quarter, as Tyler Hoover stripped USF QB Bobby Eveld of the football at the USF 2 yard line where Calhoun scooped up the ball and scored. His second touchdown came in the third quarter as he intercepted a Bobby Eveld pass and returned the ball 56 yards for a touchdown. Michigan State won 21–6, as the defense completely shutdown the South Florida offense.
Youngstown State
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Michigan State's third game of the season was against the Penguins of Youngstown State University. The Spartans opened their 2011 season against Youngstown State, defeating the Penguins 28–6.
Connor Cook became the first Michigan State quarterback since Brian Hoyer to throw for 4 touchdowns in a game; all of Cook's touchdowns were thrown in the first half. The game was so out of hand in the second half that both Tyler O'Connor and Andrew Maxwell were both given playing time at the quarterback position. Standout performances from Nick Hill and Jeremy Langford proved big, as the Spartans rushed for 277 yards as a team, with 3 touchdowns. All in all, a big day for the offense lead the Spartans to a 55–17 victory over FCS opponent Youngstown State.
Notre Dame
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Michigan State's final non-conference game was against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in a matchup for the Megaphone Trophy. Coming into the matchup, the Irish had won the previous two meetings between the schools.
Notre Dame struck first, scoring the only points in the opening quarter, as kicker Kyle Brindza nailed a 41-yard field goal. The Spartans took the lead in the second quarter, as Connor Cook found Macgarrett Kings in the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass to take the lead 7–3. Notre Dame would respond with a touchdown of their own after a pass interference penalty called against Trae Waynes on fourth and one put them deep in Michigan State territory. Several plays later, Irish quarterback Tommy Rees would find T.J. Jones in the back of the end zone for a two-yard touchdown pass to give the Irish a 10–7 lead at halftime.
The second half continued to be a low-scoring affair. Michigan State was able to tie the score in the 3rd quarter, as Freshmen kicker Michael Geiger made his first field goal of his collegiate career from 25 yards, tying the game at 10 apiece. A turnover late in the third quarter proved costly for the Spartans, as on a halfback pass, true Freshmen R.J. Shelton threw an interception which swung momentum in Notre Dame's favor. The Irish re-took the lead for good in the fourth quarter on a Cam McDaniel seven-yard touchdown run. Geiger added a 42-yard field goal to make the score 17–13. The Spartans had an opportunity to take the lead in the closing minutes with one last drive. On their final drive, coach Mark Dantonio decided to pull a struggling Connor Cook (who had played every snap) in favor of the previous season's starter, Andrew Maxwell. The Spartans went four and out, Notre Dame took over on downs, and ran out the clock.
Michigan State suffered its first loss (and would end up being its only loss) of the year, falling to 3–1, while Notre Dame improved their record to 3–1. This was the Fighting Irish's third consecutive victory over the Spartans. Notre Dame and Michigan State would not play each other again until 2016.
In February, 2018, the NCAA announced that Notre Dame would be forced to vacate all wins from the 2013 season, including this victory over the Spartans, due to academic misconduct.
Iowa
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After a bye week, the Spartans opened their conference schedule against the Hawkeyes of the University of Iowa. Iowa had won last year's meeting in East Lansing in double overtime by the score of 19–16.
After a scoreless 1st quarter, in which Michigan State turned the ball over on downs after failing a 4th down attempt, Michigan State scored first in the 2nd quarter after a lengthy drive ended with a Michael Geiger 27-yard field goal. Michigan State took a 3–0 lead. The Spartan defense forced an Iowa punt after a 3 play, 6 yard Iowa possession. The offense got the ball at their own 25. Connor Cook completed a pass to Bennie Fowler on 3rd and 6 for 12 yards to pick up a first down. The following play, Cook took off for an 11-yard run down to the Iowa 48. Several plays later, Jeremy Langford would pick up a blitz on 3rd and 8 which allowed Connor Cook to find Macgarrett Kings, who then avoided several defenders on his way to the end zone for 46-yard touchdown pass to put Michigan State up 10–0. Iowa would get the score within 3 after a Jake Rudock swing pass to Damon Bullock went 47 yards for a touchdown to make it 10–7. After the Hawkeye defense forced a punt, Iowa scored another touchdown on their next possession, this time in the form of a Rudock pass to big TE C.J. Fiedorowicz 10 yards out. Iowa would have a 14–10 lead going into halftime.