Michigan State finishes in top 10 for third straight year
Published 3:42 pm Thursday, January 14, 2016
EAST LANSING — Michigan State, which finished the 2015 season with the second-most wins in school history (12-2 record), won the Big Ten Championship for the second time in three years and reached the College Football Playoff, is ranked No. 6 in the final Associated Press and USA TODAY/Amway Coaches Polls, released Tuesday.
The Spartans finish ranked among the nation’s Top 10 for the third year in a row (No. 3 in both polls in 2013; No. 5 in both polls in 2014) — a program first since 1955-57 (No. 2 in 1955; No. 9 in 1956; No. 3 in 1957). The Spartans finished in the AP Top 10 a school-record four consecutive years from 1950-53 (No. 8 in 1950; No. 2 in 1951; No. 1 in 1952; No. 3 in 1953).
MSU and Alabama (No. 7 in 2013, No. 4 in 2014, No. 1 in 2015) are the only schools to finish in the Top 10 of the last three final AP Polls.
Michigan State, which has posted a 36-5 record since 2013, is one of only four schools in the nation to play in a Bowl Championship Series Game (2014 Rose Bowl), a New Year’s Six game (2015 Cotton Bowl) and the College Football Playoff (2015 CFP Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl) in the last three seasons (Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State). MSU’s 36 wins since 2013 are fourth most in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.
This marks MSU’s 15th Top 10 finish in the history of the AP Poll. Michigan State has been ranked in the AP Poll for a school-record 41 consecutive weeks, including 32 weeks in the Top 10.
It also marks MSU’s sixth Top 10 finish in the history of the USA TODAY Coaches Poll (began administering the poll in 1991), including its fourth under head coach Mark Dantonio.