Michigan State football: Bowl projections after big win over Iowa

Heading into a bye week riding a three-game losing streak, it felt like Michigan State football was fighting an uphill battle just to make the postseason. The Spartans were 3-3 after a 3-0 start and the bowl hopes were dwindling, especially with a tough Iowa team coming to town.

Iowa was fairly heavily favored (I believe the final line was around a touchdown in favor of the Hawkeyes) but that didn’t deter the Spartans as they dominated from start to finish en route to a 32-20 win.

That big-time victory now puts Michigan State at 4-3 on the year when it should realistically be 5-2 with a win over Boston College. It still stings to think about the Spartans choking that game away in Chestnut Hill but they’ve only improved since. Aidan Chiles has gotten better at protecting the football, the defense has proven to be more stingy, and the offensive line is playing better.

Michigan State looks more like a bowl team now than it did after that Boston College loss.

With that being said, some major publications do weekly bowl projections and Michigan State is finally being included in them. Here’s where they have the Spartans landing, along with their opponent, this howl season.

Bleacher Report: GameAbove Sports Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. Eastern Michigan
CBS Sports: GameAbove Sports Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. Eastern Michigan
247Sports: First Responder Bowl (Jan. 3) vs. Arizona State
The Action Network: Birmingham Bowl (Dec. 27) vs. NC State
Athlon Sports: GameAbove Sports Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. Toledo
ESPN: GameAbove Sports Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. Toledo OR Rate Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. UCF
Sports Illustrated: 68 Ventures Bowl (Dec. 26) vs. Marshall

There are some interesting potential matchups here, but out of them all, I’d say that I’d least like to see Eastern Michigan. That game is all risk and no reward for Michigan State. Beat the Eagles and no one cares. Lose to the Eagles and that’s all you hear about for months.

The First Responder Bowl against Arizona State would also be interesting because of the Sam Leavitt storyline. Michigan State football fans know that he felt slighted by Jonathan Smith during the recruiting process so this would be one to keep an eye on.

But hey, I’ll take any bowl after the past two years.