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Legacy secure, Cook can position Spartans for even more with win at OSU
The first time Connor Cook was about to face Ohio State as the starting quarterback for Michigan State, the question had to be asked.
Was the Hinckley, Ohio, native extra motivated to beat the Buckeyes because he never got a scholarship offer from his home-state school?
"Yeah, definitely," Cook said two years ago. "I mean, growing up in Ohio everyone wants to go to Ohio State.
"Everyone has dreams and aspirations of going to that school, and if they don't recruit you, guys have that extra motivation when they play against them just like Central Michigan and Michigan State."
That was leading up to the 2013 Big Ten championship game, and Cook was a relative unknown to the college football world then.
He wouldn't be three days later, though, as he had what was then the best game of his career and the Spartans upset the Buckeyes, who entered the game 24-0 under head coach Urban Meyer.
Cook completed 24 of 40 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns in that 34-24 upset en route to being named most outstanding player. Last year he threw for another 358 yards and two touchdowns, but the Spartans lost 49-37.
Now Cook's recruitment feels like little more than a footnote. It happened. It's interesting. It will probably never be totally forgotten, but does it really matter anymore?
Oh, sure, it came up again, at least briefly this week but his answer didn't change much, except for the tense.
"I have a lot of friends that I went to high school with that attended the university," he told reporters in East Lansing on Tuesday. "They're gone now, they graduated. And also just growing up and going through the recruiting process, knowing guys from Ohio, playing with guys in All-Star games, guys that go to Ohio State, guys I've got a chance to know.
"Really it shows like how the Michigan people describe the Michigan game. This is kind of like that game for me."
At this point the talk around his last game against the Buckeyes is not so much about why he didn't play for Ohio State but rather what he has done as a Spartan.
That is quite a lot.
Cook will enter Ohio Stadium -- where he hasn't played for the Green and White but did suit up for a high school all-star game -- on Saturday as the winningest quarterback in school history (32-4) and the all-time leader in touchdown passes.
He already has a Big Ten championship and two major bowl victories under his belt, and Saturday he will try to become the first quarterback to beat Ohio State twice in his career since Brooks Bollinger of Wisconsin in 1999 and 2001.
Another Big Ten title and perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoff are still on the table, too, but his coach cut off a question about the importance of this game for Cook's legacy.
"I don't think there is that kind of pressure that needs to be put on Connor Cook," Dantonio said. "I think he's established himself here as one of the greatest quarterbacks, if not maybe the greatest quarterback, certainly one of them, in the history here.
"He's won more games than any other quarterback. He's played on a big stage. He's won a Rose Bowl and been the MVP. He's won a Big Ten championship game and been the MVP. He's played extremely well across the board throughout his career here, so I don't think it's fair to say this one game will define him.
"I think this is another opportunity to establish his legacy. I think he will play well. He's always played well on a big stage, and I think he will have confidence to play well.
"It's a team game, so he needs to be -- everybody else needs to be doing their job, as well and he needs to do his as well."
In that case, Cook should be able to take the field at Ohio Stadium on Saturday without much to worry about -- even if there is more tantalizing history out there to be made.
"It's just going to be that much more fun and just provide that much more motivation for me to go out there and leave it all on the line."
