Party Like it's 1999: A Ten Year Look Back at a Top 10 Spartan Football Team! Part Five

Saban Spurns Spartans After the successful regular season, Spartan Football turned its attention to the Bowl selection process. The Spartans should have been

Saban Spurns Spartans

After the successful regular season, Spartan Football turned its attention to the Bowl selection process. The Spartans should have been selected for a BCS game in '99. But Michigan was instead selected to face Alabama in the Orange Bowl. The Spartans should've earned that slot by beating Michigan head to head and finishing higher in the conference standings. But as any casual fan knows, bowl game selections are often less about on-field performance than about marketing and politicking.

The Blue had just won a National Title in '97, and were still near the top of the college football world. The Spartans were back on the national scene for the first time in more than a decade. So it's no wonder the BCS selection committee chose the Wolverines. But the BCS snub didn't take anything away from '99 Spartans, who were now to get set for a New Year' Day bowl game with the 'Ole Ball Coach Steve Spurrier, and his Florida Gators.

Before getting deep into bowl preparations, Nick Saban went looking for a contract adjustment from MSU. Without knowing exactly what actually happened, we can assume that Saban had asked for more money, and other considerations, at different points of the '99 season. MSU President M. Peter McPherson ultimately balked, and supposedly challenged Saban to see if he could find a better deal elsewhere. Saban found one with the LSU Tigers, and surprisingly took it, whether he truly wanted it or not.

Based on various accounts, Saban didn't really want to leave MSU. And once he got to LSU and saw what he would be facing in Baton Rouge, he immediately wanted to come back. Supposedly, Saban and MSU began to consult with lawyers, public relations firms, and even looked into scheduling press conferences. But there was no turning back. Not a few days after quitting on his team, and the Spartan Nation. And not years later when he tired of the NFL life and wanted to get back into the college game. Spartan Football would never be the same after Saban left, and spent the better part of the next decade trying to replace him before finally filling the void with one of his old assistants. Man, are we glad to have that guy leading our program today!

Less than a week after accepting bid to play Florida in the Citrus Bowl, Saban called a team meeting at 7:30 a.m. to inform the team he was leaving for the Bayou. While Saban claimed the decision wasn't based on money, but rather an opportunity that was too good to turn down, many Spartans did not believe him. Senior Running Back Lloyd Clemons might have been the only member of MSU football to publicly speak out publicly and state that he believed Saban had left for the money. While it might not have been as simple as dollars and cents, it has always appeared Saban left in part because of how the money situation was handled by the MSU Administration.

One could write a whole book on "The Legend" of Nick Saban (one day they will), his time at MSU (there's already a couple great chapters out there), or even his unique psychology (they should study it to break down and really expose the root causes of his inner Saban). Yet, I could not do a proper retrospective of 1999 without reasonably addressing the biggest and possibly most surprising story of the year. Here was man who had worked to bring the program back, got there, and then left for totally foreign lands. Seemingly everyone around Spartan Football has a handful of Nick Saban stories that add up to the stuff of legend. Leaving MSU when he did, and how he did, is just the kind of stuff that gets you labeled with "The Legend" tag.

As a student and rabid Spartan fan at the time, the news of Saban's abrupt departure was a huge surprise. Again, the sports media in 1999 was nothing like it is in 2009. There was no build up to Saban leaving for LSU on sports radio, or a mention of it in blogs. It just popped up unexpectedly one evening. In an instant, Saban walked away at the peak of his professional career, from a program he brought back from poor recruiting and NCAA violations all the way to national prominence.

At the end of Saban's reign, many believe MSU stood on the doorstep of championships. Recruiting was only gathering steam as the Spartans were set to welcome Elite 11 QB Jeff Smoker, and another National #1 recruit in WR Charles Rogers, in the coming two years. Nick Saban might be as good a talent evaluator that has ever coached at the college level. Depth in the program was returning after enough years of the Saban staff consistently identifying and scooping up talent from all over the place. And even though Saban continually lost assistants to the NFL and other top college jobs, he was never short on competent replacements to keep a stellar coaching staff.

Much has been made and debated about supposed comments from Saban after leaving about MSU always being second to Michigan, and never being able to leap past the Wolverine program. But in reality folks, Saban merely pointed out what was obviously true. Anytime you're at Michigan State you'll be competing with the likes of Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan, everyday. You'll compete with them for recruits, fans, and most importantly wins. But those schools also compete with Michigan St., and each other. Was it a challenge to compete with those schools all the time? Sure. But to suggest that Saban, one of the most competitive coaches in football, would throw his hands up and run from the fight seems to sell the legend short. After all, he got MSU to that level in '99. And had he stayed, there's little to refute the notion that the Spartans would've gotten better and beaten those teams more often.

Now sure, there was always a chance Saban would've been lured off to the NFL. But it came as such a great surprise that he would leave for another college program, especially one that had seemingly been run into the swamp by a string of bad coaching hires who were out of their element and in over their heads. The Spartan Nation knows the relationship between Nick Saban and some in the administration of MSU was strained to the point that Saban agreed to spurn the Spartans before the bowl game for LSU. But to date, we've really only heard part of the story, largely from Saban's side. There's little doubt there's a Saban side and an MSU side to the massive fall out, and the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Now I'm not here to spread all glowing love over Nick Saban. He did, after all, pretty much leave the Spartans at the altar. He seemed to leave in order to make some kind of point after feeling he was jerked around by MSU President McPherson. Maybe Nick was right. Maybe both were wrong. But what Saban left in his wrath by bolting from MSU as he did, when he, still sits quite bitter with the great majority of the Spartan Nation. For nearly a decade now, Spartan fans have often wondered, "what if..."

What if Saban had stayed? Would MSU have been able to accomplish the "double" like Florida did a few years ago in winning a National Title in Football and Basketball in the same year? It was definitely possible. I can assure you MSU would've competed for and likely won a Big Ten title as soon as the 2000 season. MSU would've also likely made a Rose Bowl trip and or other BCS games. That was the direction and trajectory of the program, and that was the type of success path since followed by other Saban coached teams. The talent was there and the momentum was building. As Saban's friend Tom Izzo has said more than once in subsequent years, if Saban had stayed in '99, he very well could've been a lifer at MSU. Whatever the real story behind Saban's departure for the Bayou, the program took the better of the subsequent decade trying to replace him, and get Spartan Football back to the level he left it.

Gator Bait

Coming off the best regular season in more than a decade, the Spartans had a lot to prove in the 2000 Citrus Bowl against Florida. Not only did they want to finish the season on top for their own personal sense of pride, they also wanted to send a message about what it meant to be a Spartan. It's hard to quantify the efforts and sacrifices made by young men who play College Football at the highest level of the sport. It's more than an all-year commitment, and it's not always easy. The same goes for the coaches and support personnel of the program. So when the MSU team was left high and dry by its Head Coach before the Bowl Season, the impact stung a lot of Spartans and inspired them for the Bowl Game.

The man that preached to player to take ownership of their program from the first time they stepped on campus had left the building before the season was complete. So the Citrus Bowl bound Spartans, now led by Bobby Williams, wanted to send a message to the world of that real Spartans don't bail on each other before the job has been finished. These Spartans were not short on motivation as they headed into hostile Gator territory for the Citrus Bowl.

As motivated as the Spartans were to play on New Year's Day in Orlando, the same couldn't be said for the local favorite Gators. That being said, the Gators didn't want to let a Big Ten team come into their home turf and make things end even worse. Florida had dropped their last two, and was on the verge of closing the season on their first three-game losing streak since 1988. They were also facing the first season without 10 victories since 1992, and would likely end up out of the top 10 for the first time since 1990 if they did not beat the Spartans. While the Spartan football program was at a new found high, the Gators were digging their way to a new low.

The Citrus Bowl game turned out to be evenly matched as the supposedly "slow of foot" Spartans proved to be just as athletic and fast as the home team Gators. This one reminded me a bit of the Michigan game from earlier in '99 because of the intensity and number of big plays that were made all day. It was a pretty wild one from the start. And if you recall, ABC even had an in-game phone interview with Nick Saban, who accidentally referred to the Spartans as "we" more than a couple times before finally correcting himself. Talk about bizarre.

One memorable exchange between the Gators and Spartans ended up in a brief bit of confusion, and accompanying ejections. After a Gator touchdown pass, Florida QB Sr. Doug Johnson started jawing at Michigan State defensive end Hubert "Boo Boo" Thompson, who decided to take on Johnson and Gator OT Kenyatta Walker. A large pile grew in the middle of the field and the fight didn't end until coaches came off both benches to break it up. As the referees tried to make sense of the incident and assign penalties, there was some confusion as to which Spartan player was to be held responsible. After a few tense moments and heated discussion, the officials seemed to get it right, and ejected both Walker and Thompson.

The game seemed to go back and forth throughout as the clock dwindled later into the third quarter. This one had long looked like the team that had the ball last would end up with a shot to win the game. After WR Plaxico Burress split Florida's zone early in the fourth quarter for a 30-yard touchdown catch, MSU needed a 2-point conversion to tie. Sr. QB Bill Burke hit Sr. WR Gari Scott for conversion to tie the game at 34 with 10:36 left.

From there the Spartans and Gator defenses would shut down scoring opportunities until the Spartans final possession. With only a few minutes to play and the ball in hand, the Spartans made one last memorable drive to victory. Relying on Sr. RB Lloyd Clemons, who pounded out carries of 12, 6, 2, and 8 yards, MSU was in field goal range with seconds to play. As Sr. PK and Florida native Paul Edinger set up for the win, the Spartan Nation held its collective breath for the season's final magical moment.

Edinger's 39-yard game winning attempt came off the foot clean as time expired. As the kick sailed through the uprights, the Spartans capped off their most successful season in decades with a 37-34 victory. The Spartans ran off the sideline to celebrate their magical 10-2 season, lifting Head Coach Bobby Williams up onto their shoulders to parade across the Citrus Bowl field and let out the great emotions of the year. After all the team had been through between the end of the Penn St. game and the final Edinger kick, this Bowl win meant a lot more than your typical bowl game.

Aftershock

Beating Florida in Florida capped off an amazing year of resurgence for Spartan Football. As the team carried Williams off on their shoulders, little did anyone in the Spartan Nation know that would be the high point of the program for the next decade. A 10-2 season with a top 10 final ranking hasn't been seen since. Spartan Football would go onto implode under Williams, who couldn't sustain the needed discipline inside the program, and proved the adage that you cannot have a "player's coach" in college football without facing dire consequences.

After the program collapsed under Williams, MSU had a very bumpy coaching search, but ended up with an intriguing John L. Smith from Louisville, who was definitely outside the traditional MSU box. At times, Smith looked like he could be set to follow the successful career path of Florida St.'s Bobby Bowden, who had transitioned at a similar age and stature from West Virginia to make the Seminoles into a College Football super power. But all too often, Smith looked like a fish out of water. He suffered the fate of bad timing, a lack of staff continuity, and very bad luck. It's amazing to look back at the Smith era and realize that but for a couple breaks here and there, MSU Football would have returned to the '99 level under his watch. It nearly did, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Following program nose dive that began when Saban left for LSU, the Spartans had to get the right leader to resurrect the program after Williams had blown it up and Smith was unable to restore it. It was critical for Michigan State University that the new head coach named in late 2006 be successful. Fortunately for the Spartan Nation, one of our own came home in Mark Dantonio, a man mentored and groomed for this job, and this university. Within two years, Coach D led the program back as close to the '99 level as it has been. MSU played for the Big Ten title in the final game of '08, and again in what was the Citrus Bowl in Florida on New Year's Day, 2009.

Now as we celebrate the great accomplishments of the 1999 Spartan Football team, the Spartan Nation stands perched to enjoy the most anticipated season in a decade. If the season goes as planned, we'll again be set to party like it's 1999.