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The Director's Cup is a point system that ranks college athletic departments based on on-field play, and MSU finished No. 2 in the country for fall sports.
You can see the full rankings here. This is similar to the Capital One Cup that ESPN's advertises (which has MSU at No. 4 for men's sports and No. 19 for women's sports).
The football team winning the Rose Bowl was a big key, but the men's soccer team reached the Elite Eight, women's cross country finished No. 6 in the country, volleyball was a top-10 team, men's cross country was No. 32 and field hockey reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Stanford finished No. 1 and wins the cup every single year, party because they field just about every sport there is.