Mark Dantonio announced his retirement from the position of head coach of the Michigan State University Spartans football team Tuesday afternoon…surprising most, if not all, of the sports world.
Coach D. was 114-57 as head coach in 13 seasons at MSU, including three Big Ten championships… the most recent of which came in 2015.
On Inside The Cave this morning, Ian Wendt gave his list of best wins for MSU Football under Dantonio.
Top MSU Wins with Dantonio
11) 2019 New Era Pinstripe Bowl over Wake Forest 27-21
What would become Dantonio’s final win at Michigan State, the team came to life in the second half vs Wake to finish their 2019 season above .500
10) 2013 Thumping of Michigan 29-6
Dantonio’s 24th-ranked Spartans defeated the 23rd-ranked Wolverines. Michigan was sacked seven times and finished with minus-48 yards rushing, the worst output in U of M’s history. With that win, State had won five of the last six meetings with the Wolverines… and the most lopsided win in the series since 1967.
9) 2015 vs OSU without Connor Cook 17-14
Playing without Connor Cook, MSU put the defending national champions on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff race. Michael Geiger kicked a 41-yard field goal as time expired and No. 9 Michigan State beat No. 2 Ohio State … snapping the Buckeyes’ 23-game winning streak. Ohio State managed just 132 yards against the Spartans defense and lost for the first time to a Big Ten team in the regular season since Urban Meyer became coach.
8) 2011 Almost Shut Out OSU 10-7 with their legendary defense
The Spartans kept Ohio State off the scoreboard until the final 10 seconds of the game. MSU recorded nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss, both the highest totals for a Spartan defense in the Mark Dantonio era.
7) 2015 “Trouble With the Snap” vs U of M
Jalen Watts-Jackson picked up a muffed put by Blake O’Neill and raced 38 yards into the end zone for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving the seventh-ranked Spartans a shocking 27-23 win over No. 12 Michigan in one of college football’s most unlikely endings.
6) 2010 Little Giants fake Field Goal vs Notre Dame
When MSU kicker Dan Conroy lined up for a 46-yard field goal to tie the game in overtime and the play clock running low, holder Aaron Bates took the snap, stood up and waited for Charlie Gantt to come open downfield. The stunning fake worked to perfection, and Gantt’s 29-yard touchdown catch gave the Spartans a 34-31 win.
5) 2012 Triple Overtime win vs Georgia 33-30
Down a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining and a long way to go, Kirk Cousins found a way to give Michigan State a parting gift. Cousins led a late rally in the fourth quarter and Dan Conroy kicked a 28-yard field goal in the third overtime to lift the 12th-ranked Spartans over the No. 18 Bulldogs 33-30 in the Outback Bowl. Michigan State (11-3) ended a five-game bowl losing streak with its first postseason win since beating Fresno State in the 2001 Silicon Valley Bowl.
To do it, the Spartans – who had been 0-4 in bowl games under Dantonio – overcame a 16-0 halftime deficit and scored the tying touchdown with 14 seconds left in regulation. Georgia’s Blair Walsh had a 47-yard attempt blocked on the final play of the game.
4) 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic Comeback vs Baylor 42-41
Michigan State scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter on New Year’s Day to beat No. 4 Baylor 42-41 in the highest-scoring Cotton Bowl ever. Quarterback Conner Cook threw a 10-yard TD pass to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left to tie the game. Down 41-21 going into the fourth quarter, Michigan State got the winning touchdown after Marcus Rush blocked Chris Callahan’s 43-yard field goal attempt with 1:05 left. When Baylor got the ball back for one last try, Bryce Petty was sacked on consecutive plays before Riley Bullough’s clinching interception.
3) 2013 Big Ten Championship Game vs OSU 34-24
No. 10 Michigan State rallied from a seven-point third-quarter deficit by scoring the final 17 points to upset No. 2 Ohio State 34-24 and deny the Buckeyes a chance to play for the BCS national championship.
Ohio State came into the game with the nation’s longest winning streak (24), had not lost under Meyer in two seasons.
2) 2015 Big Ten Championship Game vs Iowa to go to the CFBP 16-13
L.J. Scott kept powering forward and stretched the ball into the end zone for a touchdown with 27 seconds that sent the Spartans past No. 4 Iowa 16-13 in the Big Ten championship game.
Quarterback Connor Cook led the Spartans on a 22-play… nearly 9 1/2 minute… drive that set up Scott’s 1-yard run on third down. A half-dozen Iowa defenders tried to stop Scott, but he wouldn’t be denied.
1) 2014 Rose Bowl vs Stanford 24-20
Connor Cook passed for a career-high 332 yards and hit Tony Lippett with a tiebreaking 25-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, and No. 4 Michigan State held off the fifth-ranked Cardinal in the 100th Rose Bowl. Jeremy Langford rushed for 84 yards and a score. Michigan State finished its breakthrough season with 10 straight wins, holding off the Pac-12 champion Cardinal (11-3) 24-20 for the school’s first Rose Bowl victory since 1988.
The Spartans closed out the game by stopping Stanford fullback Ryan Hewitt on fourth-and-1 near midfield with 1:46 to play. Kyler Elsworth, the fifth-year senior filling in for suspended starting linebacker Max Bullough, hurdled the pile and flew into Michigan State lore.
Goodbye, Coach…
Mark Dantonio leaves his post at MSU as the school’s all-time winning-est football coach.
Although the complete story of Dantonio has not been written, there is no question that his career on the sidelines at Michigan State was extraordinary.