2004 season was lots of fun, other than the blasted sooner game.
Perhaps this replay will correct that flaw.
2004 was my season where I flipped fanhoods.
It was an absolute bonkers season.
Projected starting QB Drew Stanton was unavailable to start the season, after the staff used him in kick coverage in the previous Alamo Bowl, and he tore an ACL. That resulted in a 1-2 start, with losses to Rutgers and Notre Dame, around a win over CMU. Oddly the home game against Notre Dame wound up hosting Gameday, with almost no prior announcement, because Tennessee-LSU was postponed due to Katrina.
Game 4, Stanton was cleared, but was named the backup, because he hadn't practiced. With Stanton on the sideline, MSU fell behind 20-7 at halftime to Indiana, so they put him in after halftime. With Stanton under center, they outscored the Hoosiers 23-0 to win 30-20.
They lost in Iowa City, beat Illinois, then somehow absolutely throttled a top 15 Minnesota team in a rain storm, like 56-17.
Then came the Michigan game where Stanton separated his shoulder, and MSU wound up blowing a 17 point lead in the final 7 minutes with backup Damon Dowdell playing QB
With Stanton still out the following week, a loss to OSU was all but assured. OSU scored on their first 3 drives to take a 17-0 lead in the 1st quarter. Then MSU ran off 19 straight points, and a FG with 3:35 left gave MSU the 19-17 lead. After going over 45 game minutes without scoring, OSU remembered they had Ted Ginn, and scored 2 50+ yard TDs in the final 2 minutes, and won 32-19. IIRC they actually scored a third TD (maybe on a pick 6) that was called back for a penalty on the return.
Next came #4 Wisconsin, one of 4 10-0 teams in the nation, creating a potential BCS problem. Again, no Stanton. Once again Wisconsin went up 7-0 less than 2 minutes into the game. But it was 14-14 in the middle of the 2nd quarter. MSU stuffed Wisconsin at the 1, and then went 99 yards for a go ahead touchdown, then made a second goal line stand on the final play of the first half. MSU opened the 2nd half with a surprise onside kick, and then put Stanton in the game, in a major surprise. MSU outscored Wisconsin 28-0 and won 49-14. MSU had 3 different players throw a TD pass, 3 different players record a rushing TD, and 3 different players catch a TD pass. Plus they scored a special teams TD. 4 different players ran for 70+ yards, on a combined 408 yards on 38 carries (10.7 ypc).
So basically MSU seemed like a machine, as long as Stanton was in. 4-1 in games he finished, and 2 of the losses without him were close losses to Michigan and OSU. So just Penn State and Hawaii stood between them and a bowl. This was a 3-7 Penn State team that was tied for last in the Big Ten. Instead MSU was -5 in turnovers, and Penn State scored 28 points in a quarter. They didn't score that many points in a Big Ten GAME that year otherwise, and were held under 20 in 4 of 7. Then they went out and played a meaningless game in Hawaii, where they put up 600 yards of offense, but were penalized for >200 yards, and lost 41-38. I think that and Wisconsin suffering similar reffing on the island either the prior or next year, led to Barry Alvarez convincing the Big Ten to stop sending a team out there to end the year.
