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2006 Michigan State Spartans football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	2006
team	Michigan State Spartans
image	Michigan State Spartans script.svg
image_size	120
conference	Big Ten Conference
short_conf	Big Ten
record	4–8
conf_record	1–7
head_coach	John L. Smith
hc_year	4th
off_coach	Dave Baldwin
oc_year	4th
def_coach	Chris Smeland
dc_year	4th
off_scheme	Spread
def_scheme	[4–3](4-3-defense)
stadium	Spartan Stadium

The 2006 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Michigan State competed as a member of the Big Ten Conference, and played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans were led by fourth-year head coach John L. Smith. Smith had compiled a combined 18–18 record in his previous seasons at Michigan State, and he was fired after the 2006 season in which the team finished 4–8. The Spartans did, however, set the record for the greatest comeback from a deficit in college football history.

Season recap

Michigan State teams during Smith's tenure were "known for their late season collapses". The Spartans started the 2006 season with a 3–0 record with victories over Idaho, Eastern Michigan, and Pittsburgh. The following week, Michigan State led Notre Dame, 37–21, in the third quarter, but surrendered 19 points to lose the game. The Spartans then lost all but one game on the remainder of their schedule.

On October 21, Michigan State traveled to Evanston, Illinois to face Northwestern. By the third quarter, Northwestern had extended its lead to a commanding 38–3. Michigan State gained momentum in the fourth quarter when Devin Thomas blocked a Northwestern punt, which was then returned for a touchdown by Ashton Henderson. Northwestern was forced to punt twice more and Michigan State capitalized on each possession with a touchdown, which tied the game, 38–38. Placekicker Brett Swenson made good the game-winning field goal with 0:13 remaining to play, and Michigan State won the greatest comeback in college football history.

After the record-setting victory, it appeared that Smith's job was temporarily secured, but the administration fired him shortly after a loss to Indiana the following week. The Spartans ended the season with four consecutive losses to finish with a 4–8 overall record and 1–7 against Big Ten opponents. In November, Mark Dantonio was hired as the replacement head coach.

Schedule

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Game summaries

Northwestern

Coaching staff

John L. Smith – Head coach
Blaine Bennett – Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach
Dave Baldwin – Offensive coordinator/Tight end coach
Dan Enos – Quarterbacks coach
Ben Sirmans – Running backs coach/special teams coordinator
Jeff Stoutland – Offensive line coach
Chris Smeland – Defensive coordinator/safeties
Derrick Jackson – Defensive line coach
Mike Cox – Linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator
Chuck Driesbach – Defensive backs coach

2007 NFL draft

The following players were selected in the 2007 NFL draft.

References

[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2177 John L. Smith Records by Year], College Football Data Warehouse, Retrieved July 24, 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100214231429/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2177 Archived] July 26, 2009.
''[[Phil Steele's]] 2009 College Football Preview'', volume 15, p. 66, Summer 2009.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160820042416/http://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=262940077 Spartans stun Cats for biggest comeback in I-A history], ESPN, October 21, 2006.
[https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=2645774&type=HeadlineNews&imagesPrint=off Michigan State coach John L. Smith out after season], ESPN, November 1, 2006.
"Michigan State 2006 Schedule/Results". [[ESPN]].
[https://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2006-11-27-michiganstate-coach_x.htm Michigan State hires Dantonio to coach football team], ''[[USA Today]]'', November 27, 2006.
(October 21, 2006). "Spartans Stun Cats for Biggest Comeback in I-A History". [[ESPN]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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