Michigan State Football Shocks the World Beating Michigan On the Game's Final Play

Michigan State‘s unbeaten season was over. Michigan would move on and likely challenge Ohio State and others for a Big Ten East title after a big win over their in-state rival. That’s what everyone thought when the Wolverines lined up to punt with just 10 seconds remaining Saturday night against the Spartans. What happened next shocked college football fans across the country.

Blake O’Neill lined up to kick it away and if the coverage was good, the clock would run out as the Wolverines escaped with a win. Unfortunately for Jim Harbaugh‘s crew, the snap was low, which led to a fumble that was picked up by Michigan State’s Jalen Watts-Jackson.

Choosing to return the fumble the entire way was risky. When the ball was picked up with six seconds left, the Spartans were outside of field-goal range, though, there was still time left on the clock by the time he had rumbled into Michael Geiger‘s range. It’s more than likely that he could have fallen and set up a field goal. Also risky, but it was a long return and being tackled short of the goal line once the clock ran out would have ended the game in Michigan’s favor. It’s all academic at this point, however, as Watts-Jackson made it to the end zone and sent the Spartans back to East Lansing with a win that no one expected them to have.

Michigan looked like the better team for most of the afternoon and early evening, and took a two-score lead with 9:25 remaining to put the Spartans in an uncomfortable position. They responded with a quick two-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to close the gap. It should’ve been a one-play drive as Connor Cook found fullback Trevon Pendleton downfield, and he scampered to the goal line for a touchdown. After further review, the officials determined that Pendleton was short of the goal line when his knee touched. It was the wrong call. At the very least, it was inconclusive, but the angle that was shown seemed to indicate the tip of the ball crossed the goal line. Again, academic at this point as L.J. Scott took it in on the next snap to cap the drive.

After a series of punts, Michigan State got the ball back, but turned it over on downs at the Michigan 45-yard line with 1:47 left to seemingly end the contest. All Jake Rudock and the offense needed to do was pick up one first down, and the clock would expire without giving it back. They couldn’t. The Spartans forced a punt and the rest is history.

Neither offense was overly efficient throughout the game. Michigan’s Rudock completed 15-of-25 passes for just 168 yards, but the takeaway from his performance is that he didn’t give the ball away. The fifth-year transfer from Iowa has struggled with interceptions through the first half of the season, but protected the ball against the Spartans. Cook completed just 18-of-39, but picked up yards in chunks. He averaged 18.2 yards per completion, a stat which was aided by a 30-yard third-quarter touchdown pass to Macgarrett Kings Jr.

Michigan State put up the best offensive performance that we’ve seen against the Wolverines’ defense all season. Following a 24-17 opening weekend loss to Utah, Michigan had given up just 14 points prior to Saturday. This includes three consecutive shutouts.

A win Saturday could have been season-defining for Michigan, with winnable games on the horizon until they would meet Ohio State to conclude the regular season on Nov. 28. A conference title isn’t unattainable for the Wolverines following the loss, but it certainly complicates things, especially in a division with the defending national champions. Michigan State, on the other hand, put themselves in the driver’s seat to reach Indianapolis for a shot at the Big Ten title, and ultimately, a chance to play for a national championship.

Michigan State will host Indiana next Saturday before heading into a bye week. The schedule should be favorable following the open date until Nov. 21 when they face Ohio State. That game could very likely decide the division. If the Buckeyes handle their business against Penn State tonight, expect both teams to be unbeaten when that game arrives.

Jason Shawley is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering Big Ten Football. Follow him on Twitter @jshawls.