Dantonio Says If A Playoff Existed Last Year: 'We'd Have Been National Champions'
CBS DETROIT - Michigan State won as much as it could win at the end of the 2013 season, emerging victorious from the Big Ten championship game and from the Rose Bowl.
Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio conceded at Big Ten Media Day in Chicago that he has indeed contemplated how far Michigan State could have advanced had the playoff system, which goes into effect this season, had existed last year.
"I thought we'd have been national champions, to be perfectly honest with you," Dantonio said, according to Chris Vannini of CoachingSearch.com. "I think we would have had a shot to do that. Coming out of the end of the season, we were playing great football. We were believing in ourselves.
"Were we there at the beginning of the season?" Dantonio continued. "No, but we played our best football in November into the championship game and Rose Bowl. We were like this (going up). That wasn't necessarily the case for some other teams."