One of the great myths perpetuated on GopherHole, that the Gophers definitely would have beaten Michigan State the next week after choking away the Michigan game. Perhaps, but there's no way of knowing. It's not like MSU was terrible that season (8-4, 5-3). In fact, Sparty was undefeated in the Big Ten (3-0) heading into the Gopher game, before fading (1-3 the rest of the way).
The 2003 Michigan game definitely gets my vote simply for what it would have meant to win that game. The whole state was ready to hop on the bandwagon, casual fans were starting to notice the Gophers, then the face plant. The program never really recovered.