USA TODAY Sports' Dan Wolken breaks down the College Football Playoff semifinal matchup. USA TODAY Sports
DALLAS — Take it from a former Spartan skeptic: Underestimate Michigan State at your own peril.
It's a lesson learned in viewing their transformation from offensive disaster to arguably the most physically punishing team in the country by the end of 2013, in the stunning feeling as they erased a 20-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Baylor in last year's Cotton Bowl and in viewing the Spartans in person as they beat both Michigan and Ohio State on the road this season in improbable fashion.