College Sweethearts: For Baylor and Michigan State, It’s Not Easy Being Green

It was a teeth-gnashing conclusion for a pair of teams that played fantastic football for most of the year — and for their troubles, MSU and BU enter 2015 not even picked as the best teams in their conferences. That might be fair, but the schools have hit ceilings so many times over the past few years that they’re collectively walking around with their heads bent over to one side. For two programs with such divergent histories — the Spartans claim six national titles; the Bears’ biggest postseason win is still a Sugar Bowl victory in 1957 — there’s a lot of overlap to be found in their recent results, and some common struggles on the way in 2015.

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:Just win baby. The natty will shut everyone up.

CHICAGO – And now, Michigan State is back to being Cooper Manning.

There are three Manning brothers – Peyton, Eli, and, oh yeah, Cooper. You don’t hear much about him, the oldest. Cooper is the one who played wide receiver, the one who never became a superstar, Super Bowl-winning, commercial-making quarterback.

The Spartans know how it feels to be the third wheel. That’s been their historic station (at best) in the Big Ten.

They’ve had a whirlwind media romance over the past couple of seasons, rising out of the shadow of Ohio State and Michigan to produce a pair of top-five seasons and a pair of thrilling bowl victories. But the love never seems to last in East Lansing. Even now, with Michigan State poised to produce a third straight excellent season, you can feel it fading.

Why? Because Ohio State is the defending national champion and absolutely loaded for a repeat bid. And because Jim Harbaugh rode into Ann Arbor on a white horse to save Michigan from itself.

Ohio State great. Michigan back. Those two storylines will always sell in the Big Ten, and resonate nationally.

Michigan State’s more quiet quest? You can almost feel the apathetic response to that one. Eh. Wait and see.