But nothing compares to the utter heartbreak that enveloped his team two years ago following MSU’s loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Normally an unsatisfying loss lingers for a day, maybe two — definitely not past the weekend, he said. After MSU’s loss to the Badgers, the pain still lingered a week later for some players.

“I’ve never seen a game affect so many people — I’ve lost to Michigan before, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a single game affect … the amount of players that it did so negatively,” Bullough said.

The memory of the late-game loss remains one of the primary motivators for the veterans on MSU’s roster. They feel they have unfinished business in Indianapolis after a controversial roughing the kicker penalty in the final two minutes prevented one final comeback attempt in 2011.

“I (have) seen people cry that I never thought I would see cry,” senior linebacker Denicos Allen said Saturday. “I know it’s a lot of emotion, a lot at hand.”

Last year was an abrupt reminder that championship opportunities such as the 2011 season must always be earned. Bullough admitted that, as a sophomore at the time, he assumed he’d make a return trip to the championship the next season.

Now, the Spartans find themselves in the highest-profile Big Ten Championship Game to date. A win guarantees the program’s first outright conference title and prized trip to the Rose Bowl since the 1987 season. The Buckeyes likely will play for the national championship with a win.

Ranked No. 10 in the BCS standings, MSU potentially could reach either the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl if it loses a tight game with Ohio State.

Claiming the Big Ten championship outright is important to Dantonio and his team. MSU’s most recent conference crown in 2010 was a three-way tie with Penn State and Ohio State.

For the players who weren’t at MSU or playing in the game two years ago, Bullough said they should grasp the magnitude of the game soon enough, if they haven’t already.

“I think they understand the moment,” Bullough said. “It kind of goes being unsaid, going against a team like Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game. College GameDay is going to be there. There’s implications all across the BCS on who wins that game. So I think that goes without being said, and I think if they don’t know that yet, they’ll know today at practice.”

So what would it feel like if the roles are reversed this time around at Lucas Oil Stadium?

“I probably can’t imagine it,” Bullough said, noting memorable celebrations from his career. “I’m hoping this one is one level bigger.”