The Spartans got a hot start, with Lewerke finding tight end Josiah Price for that aforementioned touchdown and freshman Justin Layne intercepting Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson on the next drive and taking it back for a touchdown. Less than halfway through the first quarter, MSU was up 14-0.

Northwestern responded with touchdowns by running back Justin Jackson and wide receiver Austin Carr, sandwiched between a Spartan field goal. A Northwestern sack of Lewerke in the end zone cut the MSU lead to 17-16, and a Wildcat field goal completed a first half comeback, giving Northwestern a 19-17 lead at halftime.

Jackson was a workhorse for the Wildcats and finished the game with 34 carries for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Carr, who leads the Big Ten in receiving yards, receptions, and receiving touchdowns reeled in 11 catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. MSU’s rushing game was non-existent, as Lewerke was the team’s leading rusher with 30 yards. L.J. Scott was next with just three carries for 25 yards.

The second half saw Northwestern get the ball first and immediately attack the two freshman, Layne and Tyson Smith, resulting in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Flynn Nagel, extending Northwestern’s lead to 26-17.

Northwestern’s next drive saw them march down the field yet again, this time capped off with a Thorson touchdown run on an option keeper. Northwestern spread the ball around and converted two third-downs on the drive. Thorson finished the day strong after his first quarter interception, going 27-35 for 281 yards and three scores along with that second half rushing score.

All of a sudden, the Wildcats opened up a 16 point lead and Dantonio subbed out Lewerke and put in O’Connor, who converted on a deep ball 59 yards for a touchdown to R.J. Shelton on his first offensive series. O’Connor’s third offensive drive took 11 seconds as he found Shelton deep for 86 yards and MSU was just down two, 33-31.

O’Connor finished the day 13-21 for 281 yards and three touchdowns despite playing just in the second half. Shelton led MSU’s receiving corps with 190 yards on seven catches and two touchdowns.

Northwestern, however, had different ideas as they took back the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, putting that lead right back to nine at 40-31. Going back and forth from there, Northwestern put a dagger into MSU with a 13 play, 91 yard scoring drive that took just over six minutes and ended with Jackson’s second touchdown of the game, this time from 26 yards out.

O’Connor wound up connecting on a nine-yard touchdown pass to receiver Donnie Corley, and after a missed two-point conversion, Northwestern led 47-37. Northwestern put all doubt behind, as Thorson connected with Carr a final time to make it 54-37 with 5:02 to play.

MSU added a late score as senior kicker Michael Geiger connected on a 36-yard field goal. A failed onside kick from there allowed Northwestern to run out the clock.

Defensively, MSU safety Montae Nicholson led the way with 13 tackles, but was banged up with what appeared to be an arm or shoulder injury in the fourth quarter. Defensive tackle Malik McDowell played a lot at defensive end, and had his best game of the year, racking up 11 tackles (seven solo, two for loss) and half a sack. The team struggled heavily on third down again and allowed Northwestern’s offense to convert 53 percent (10-19) of their third-downs and gave up 492 yards of total offense (211 rushing, 281 throwing).

MSU travels the road next week to take on the 4-2 Maryland Terrapins as the Spartans still look for their first Big Ten victory of the season.