Michigan State celebrates with its Cotton Bowl trophy following a 42-21 come-from-behind win over Baylor Thursday. (Matthew Mitchell / MSU Athletic Communications)

New Year’s Day has been very kind to the Michigan State football team in recent years.

After winning the 100th Rose Bowl last year with a great defensive play, the Spartans turned a special teams play into the game-winning touchdown to kickoff the second day of the “New Year’s Six” as they defeated Baylor 42-41.

Here are some of the highlights of the victory:

With its 42-41 come-from-behind win over Baylor, Michigan State’s 2014 seniors tied the 2013 seniors as the winningest class in program history, with 42 victories (42-12 from 2011-14, .778).

• Michigan State extended its school record by playing in its eighth consecutive postseason bowl game and improved its all-time record to 11-14 (.440) in 25 bowl appearances.
• Michigan State also extended its school-record bowl winning streak to four games — the longest active bowl winning streak in the Big Ten. The Spartans have rallied from double-digit deficits to win each of those four games (2012 Outback Bowl vs. Georgia: rallied from 16-0 halftime deficit for 33-30 triple-overtime win; 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl vs. TCU: rallied from 13-0 halftime deficit for 17-16 victory; 2014 Rose Bowl Game vs. Stanford: twice rallied from 10 points deficits [10-0 at the end of the first quarter and 17-7 in the second quarter] for a 24-20 win; 2015 Cotton Bowl Classic vs. Baylor: rallied from 20-point deficit [41-21 at the end of the third quarter] for a 42-41 victory.
• Mark Dantonio improved his record to 4-4 in postseason bowl games at Michigan State. After dropping his first four bowl games, the Spartans have won a school-record four in a row. MSU also tied a Big Ten record by posting its fourth-straight bowl game (Michigan and Ohio State each have two four-game bowl winning streaks in their history, while Purdue and Wisconsin have accomplished the feat once). Dantonio owns the MSU record for postseason bowl appearances (8) and bowl victories (4).
• As Michigan State’s head coach, Mark Dantonio improved his record to 29-11 (.725) against non-conference opponents. The Spartans have won 20 of their last 25 games against non-league opponents (.800).
• Michigan State has recorded 53 wins since 2010 — the most in the Big Ten over the last five seasons. The Spartans have won 53 of their last 67 games (.791), dating back to the beginning of the 2010 season.
• Michigan State is one of just five schools in the FBS to win bowl games in each of the last four seasons (Louisiana-Lafayette, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas A&M).
• Michigan State’s 20-point comeback win (down 41-21 in the fourth quarter) was the biggest in Spartan bowl history (previous: 16 points, down 16-0 to Georgia in 2012 Outback Bowl). The 20-point comeback was also the largest in the Mark Dantonio era at Michigan State (previous: 17 points, three times; 2007 vs. Penn State, 2010 vs. Northwestern, 2012 vs. Indiana).
• The Spartans produced a school bowl-record 29 first downs against Baylor (previous high: 25 vs. Florida, 2000 Florida Citrus). In addition, MSU recorded some of its top single-game bowl totals against the Bears: points (second with 42), rushing yards (second with 238), total yards (second with 552) and passing yards (fifth with 314).
• The 21 points scored by the Spartans in the fourth quarter was the most ever scored in a single quarter by MSU in its bowl history (previous high: 20 vs. Fresno State, second quarter, 2001 Silicon Valley).
• Michigan State has won 24 games the past two seasons, the most in back-to-back seasons in school history (previous: 22 in 2010-11). The 24 wins since 2013 are tied for third most in a two-year span in Big Ten history.
• Michigan State improved its record to 20-2-1 (.891) against current members of the Big 12 Conference (2-0 vs. Baylor, 2-0 vs. Iowa State, 5-1 vs. Kansas, 5-0-1 vs. Kansas State, 2-0 vs. TCU, 0-1 vs. Texas Tech and 4-0 vs. West Virginia. The Spartans are 2-1 all-time vs. Big 12 opponents in postseason bowl games.
• Under Mark Dantonio, the Spartans are 12-20 (.375) in 32 games played against teams ranked in The

Associated Press Top 25; however, MSU is 11-11 against ranked teams since 2010. Michigan State has won five of its last seven games played against ranked opponents, including three of the last four vs. AP top-five teams (No. 2 Ohio State, No. 5 Stanford, No. 4 Baylor; lost to No. 3 Oregon).The victory over No. 4 Baylor equaled the highest-ranked AP team MSU has defeated in a bowl game (No. 4 UCLA in 1956 Rose Bowl).