There were many candidates for the top-10 list of the highest highs for MSU football that I’ve covered. And there are plenty for the lowest lows as well – though many hail from the John L. Smith era. But nothing that happened under Smith can rival No. 1 on the list.
- Wisconsin 42, MSU 39 – Dec. 3, 2011. It can’t seem as bad to MSU and its fans as it did then, because some of the finest years of the program have followed that evening in Indianapolis. But at the time, the Spartans had just squandered their best shot at a Rose Bowl in nearly a quarter century, with no guarantee they’d get another shot that good in the near future, not with Kirk Cousins wrapping up his career.