Michigan State football isn’t known as one of the nation’s most storied programs. The school does have the NCAA’s third-longest streak of having at least one player get drafted at 79 years which trails only Michigan and USC at 81 years each, according to MLive.com.
Outside of this record, however, and a few decades like the 1950s and 1960s, Michigan State football hasn’t been a national powerhouse, which is why Mark Dantonio was one of the greatest things to happen to the Spartans.
Tom Izzo had already blessed the banks of the Red Cedar with a handful of Final Four appearances as well as a national title, but the football program was still consistently mediocre.