2008 Michigan State Spartans football team The 2008 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 2008 – 2009 college football season . The team ' s head coach was Mark Dantonio . The Spartans played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing , Michigan . This was Mark Dantonio ' s second season as the Spartans head coach . Previous season . In the 2007 season , the Spartans opened the season 4 – 0 , but lost five of their next six games to put their record at 5 – 5 . Michigan State ended up finishing the season 7 – 5 after defeating Purdue and Penn State . This qualified the Spartans into a bowl for the first time since the 2003 season . The Spartans played in the Champs Sports Bowl against ACC opponent Boston College , losing 24 – 21 to end Dantonio ' s first season at 7 – 6 . Schedule . The Spartans opened the 2008 season at California Memorial Stadium against California of the Pac - 10 . The game ended the home and home between Michigan State and California . The other game was played in the 2002 season at Spartan Stadium . Michigan State played their next three games at home against MAC opponent and instate rival Eastern Michigan , Sun Belt opponent Florida Atlantic , and rival Notre Dame . Following the conclusion of the non - conference portion of their schedule , the Spartans began Big Ten play with an away game against Indiana and opened October with their first Big Ten home game against Iowa . The Spartans then traveled to Evanston , Illinois to avenge a 2007 overtime loss against Northwestern . The following week , Michigan State returned to East Lansing to play against 2007 BCS runner - up Ohio State . Michigan State ended October in Ann Arbor to play in - state rival and arch nemesis Michigan . The Spartans opened their final month of the regular season against Wisconsin . The following week , Michigan State played its final home game of the season against Purdue . The Spartans had a bye week before traveling to University Park , Pennsylvania to play their final game of the season against Penn State . Game notes . California . Both teams were scoreless until a blocked Spartans punt resulted in a Bears touchdown in the first quarter . Cal scored again on a field goal by freshman kicker David Seawright in the second quarter . Michigan State responded when Otis Wiley intercepted a Nate Longshore pass and returning it for a touchdown , while Cal was able to counter with a touchdown run by Jahvid Best prior to the half . The second half saw both teams score back and forth . The Spartans struck first with a touchdown run by Javon Ringer , followed by Cal QB Kevin Riley connecting with Cameron Morrah for a touchdown . Ringer made his second touchdown run of the game in the fourth quarter , while Riley made his second touchdown pass of the game to Will Ta ' ufo ' ou . After a Spartans field goal , freshman running back Shane Vereen scored on an 81 yard touchdown run that gave the Bears their final score of the game . The Spartans countered with a touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer to Mark Dell to get within 7 points and had a chance to tie the game with seconds left , but Hoyer threw four straight incompletions from midfield . Longshore , who lost the starting quarterback job to Riley , threw for 62 yards with 2 interceptions . Riley threw for 202 yards with 2 touchdowns . The game marked the first time that two Cal running backs had completed over 100 yards rushing since the 2006 Holiday Bowl , with Best at 111 yards and Vereen at 101 , respectively . Spartans quarterback Hoyer finished with 321 yards passing , including a touchdown and an interception . Ringer , who completed 1 , 447 yards rushing during the 2007 season , was held to 81 yards , which included 2 touchdowns . Florida Atlantic . It was a rainy day in East Lansing . On the second play of the game FAU broke a would - be 79 yd touchdown run , but it was called back on a holding penalty . Because of the horrible weather conditions , the teams combined had 3 lost fumbles , and it was a low - scoring affair . Javon Ringer had a career high 282 yards and added 2 touchdowns . Notre Dame . In week four , the Spartans welcomed undefeated rival Notre Dame . In the previous eight years of the rivalry , the visiting team had won each game . Michigan State was able to dominate the ground game on both sides of the ball , rushing for 203 yards while holding Notre Dame to just 16 rushing yards . Javon Ringer , who had over 200 yards rushing on the game , brought out his offensive line , tight ends , and fullbacks to the post - game press conference to recognize them for their contributions . Indiana . The Spartans and the Hoosiers met for the Old Brass Spitoon . This was highly offensive game . Spartans QB Brian Hoyer finally had a break out game . It had all been Javon Ringer up until this point . In one of the most exciting plays of the game , Hoyer hit TE Charlie Gantt on a 83 yd TD pass . But the Hoosiers came back with an 80 yd TD run by Marcus Thigpen , who tore up the defense . It was 27 – 22 at halftime . The defense stepped up in the second half for the Spartans , allowing only one TD . In one of the crucial plays of the game , a 99 yd TD pass was called back on a holding penalty . The Hoosiers were on their own goal line , and the holding penalty caused a safety . That sucked the momentum out the Hoosiers as the Spartans went on to win 42 – 29 . Brian Hoyer was 14 – 26 , threw for 261 yds , and 2 TD ' s , while Javon Ringer improved his Heisman resume , rushing for 198 yds , and 2 TD ' s . The Spartans improved to a 4 – 1 record . Iowa . Michigan State got out to an early 13 – 0 lead behind two Brett Swenson field goals and a touchdown pass to Charlie Gantt . However , Iowa stormed back in the second half , with running back Shonn Greene running for 157 yards on the day . It took a late stop by Adam Decker on an Iowa fourth - and - one at the MSU 21 - yard line to seal the victory for Michigan State . Iowa went on to win 6 of its final 7 games including a win in the Outback Bowl . Michigan . The Spartans struck first , scoring on a huge 61 yard TD pass from Brian Hoyer to Blair White with just under 12 minutes to go in the first quarter . The Wolverines tied it up near the end of the first quarter when Brandon Minor scored on a 19 yard TD pass from Steven Threet ( this score was the result of an incorrectly overturned call from the initial ruling of an incomplete pass ) . The Spartans took the lead back near the end of the half with a 64 yard TD run by Javon Ringer . The Wolverines tied it back up less than a minute later when Brandon Minor ran in a TD from 2 yards out . Midway through the third quarter , the Wolverines took their only lead of the game when QB Steven Threet ran in a touchdown himself from 2 yards out . However , the Spartans entirely controlled the game after that . The Spartans tied it back up when Charlie Gantt scored on a 4 yard TD pass near the end of the third quarter . The Wolverines were shut out in the fourth quarter . The Spartans took the lead for good in the fourth quarter when Javon Ringer ran in another TD , this time from 3 yards out , and capped their win when Josh Rouse scored on a 7 yard TD pass . Wisconsin . Coming off of an emotional win against arch - rival Michigan , Michigan State appeared to suffer a bit of an emotional letdown against the underachieving Badgers . Wisconsin dominated the ground game on both sides of the ball , rushing for 281 yards while holding Michigan State to just 25 yards rushing . With Wisconsin leading 24 – 22 late in the fourth quarter with the ball in Spartan territory , the game appeared all but over . However , a holding call brought back what would have likely been the game - clinching first down for Wisconsin and forced them to punt . With 1 : 19 left to play , Brian Hoyer led a drive to set up the game - winning 44 yard field goal by Brett Swenson with 7 seconds remaining . Penn State . Coming into the game , Michigan State had a chance to clinch a share of their first Big Ten title since 1990 . However , Penn State held Javon Ringer to 42 yards on 17 carries as the Lions beat Michigan state 49 – 18 . Daryll Clark threw for 341 yards and 4 touchdown passes . 2009 NFL Draft . Only one Spartan was selected in the 2009 NFL Draft . However , quarterback Brian Hoyer signed with the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent .