DALLAS — Ohio State and Oregon will play a historic college football game here on Monday night, the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship at Jerry Jones' sprawling football palace otherwise known as AT&T Stadium.

Just don't forget about Michigan State, the team the Buckeyes and Ducks had to beat to get to this point.

On the back cover of of the Dallas Morning News' Sunday College Football Playoff preview section, 18 pages dedicated to Ohio State and Oregon, was a full-page ad from the Spartans.

It was a "Texas-size thank you" to the Dallas area for its hospitality earlier this month when Michigan State beat Baylor in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium.

It was also a Texas-size reminder to the college football world descended on Dallas that the Spartans are still relevant.

This is on the back of the Dallas Morning News' Sunday CFP section full of Ohio State and Oregon stories pic.twitter.com/o4diqtSrQQ — Bill Landis (@BillLandis25) January 11, 2015

Need more proof of relevancy than a half-page photo of Michigan State players hoisting the trophy from a playoff bowl under a shower of confetti on the same field the championship game will be played on?

How about this:

"Four the fourth-straight year, Coach Mark Dantonio and his tenacious team are bowl game champions — cause for celebration for more than half a million Spartans around the world whose uncommon will empowers extraordinary outcomes every day," reads the bottom portion of the ad.

Point taken.

Oregon beat Michigan State in Eugene in week two, a game in which the Ducks trailed at the half but ran away with in the end. Ohio State beat Michigan State in East Lansing on Nov. 8, the biggest game of the Buckeyes' regular season.

Without a win in those games, neither Ohio State nor Oregon play for a championship on Monday night.

Michigan State won the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, the same day Ohio State and Oregon punched their tickets to the National Championship with wins in the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl. Why would the Spartans wait 10 days to publish an ad thanking Dallas?

Because everyone: Media, fans and anyone from Ohio State and Oregon who bothered to pick up a paper on Sunday morning would see it.

Spartans Will ... Remind you they still matter.