Spartans headed to New York City, will face Wake Forest in Pinstripe Bowl

Joe Dandron, Football reporter
December 8, 2019

Announced early on Sunday afternoon, shortly after the College Football Playoff rankings were released, it was also announced that Michigan State (6-6, 4-5 Big Ten) will be heading to New York City to compete in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl against Wake Forest (8-4, 4-4 ACC). 

MSU will play Wake Forest on Dec. 27, with kickoff set for 3:20 p.m. on ESPN.

The announcement was first reported by Stadium’s Brett McMurphy via Twitter and was later confirmed in a tweet from the Pinstripe Bowl’s account.

MSU closed out the year needing a win against Maryland to clinch a berth in the postseason. 

With their 19-16 nail-biter of a win over Maryland, the Spartans are able to go bowling and for much of the time after the regular season ended – most projections pointed to MSU playing in New York City. Where they have a large pool of alumni.

MSU experienced a 5-game losing streak before defeating Rutgers on the road and Maryland at home to close out the season and clinch a postseason berth.

“We’re excited about representing the Big Ten in the Pinstripe Bowl against a high quality ACC opponent in Wake Forest,” said MSU head coach Mark Dantonio in a press release. “Playing in New York for a bowl game will be a new experience for our program, and it should be a really fun atmosphere to be right in the city during the holiday season. We’ll also have the chance to play in a unique venue in Yankee Stadium. Every bowl trip we’ve had has been a tremendous experience for our players, and I’ve heard only great things about how the Yankees organization runs this entire event.”

Spartan fans were hopeful of the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit, but because two Big Ten teams are in non-playoff New Year’s Six bowl games, the Big Ten was unable to send a delegate to Detroit.

Joe Dandron is a football writer and columnist for Impact89FM, follow him on Twitter @JosephDandronMI or contact him at [email protected]