The college football world had got used to Michigan State playing at a top 10 level under head coach Mark Dantonio. The Spartans have won two of the last four Big Ten titles and have gone bowling nine times in ten seasons. Then 2016 happened and the Spartans bottomed out with a 3-9 record that was every bit as ugly as it sounds. Throw in transfers and a mass dismissal of incoming prospects from last years class and you find the Spartans in a position where competing with even the average in the Big Ten – let alone the elite – is going to be very difficult until 2018.
This is college football though, so there is always room for hope and hype.