East Lansing — The only time Michigan State and Alabama played came at a time the Spartans were looking to see just where they stood in the college football landscape.
They were fresh off an 11-win regular season in 2010 and a share of the Big Ten championship for the first time in 20 years. The showdown against the Crimson Tide in the 2011 Capital One Bowl would tell them a lot about whether they had arrived under coach Mark Dantonio — or if they had work left to join the nation’s best.
“It became a rough day as things sort of spun out of control a little bit,” Dantonio said of the 49-7 loss.