I had never been on the actual field of Spartan Stadium before.

So when I got to help cover a football game this season and learned that the press was allowed there for the last few minutes of the game, I was stoked.

And luckily for me, the game I chose to cover was one of the most exciting I’ve seen in my three years here.

I’m not sure why MSU has a special rivalry with Notre Dame, but on that Saturday afternoon, there was no doubt that pride and bragging rights lay clearly on the line with the game.

We had beat the Irish for the past three seasons, something they weren’t really used to, and they seemed determine to not let it happen again.

The game slowly turned into a nailbiter with a back-and-forth score. Our band would play the “Michigan State Fight Song” and our fans would roar. Then the Irish would intercept the ball. Their fans would roar. Their band would outplay ours.

I got on the field with less than two minutes left on the clock. MSU had the ball. It was a critical play - a key play, if you will. We had the ball on fourth down, around the Irish 30-yard line. The score was Notre Dame, 21-20. Our fate seemed determined.

But I underestimated the potential in true-freshman quarterback Jeff Smoker’s arm.

The center snapped the ball, and Smoker fell back.

(One sidenote - seeing the offensive line up close is truly amazing. From the stands they look so little, their movements look scripted and uninspired. When you’re 20 feet away, you can see how hard those guys are pushing and hoping and struggling to block their defenders. You can hear them grunt. It’s amazing.)

But back to the play. Smoker searched the field, found junior wide receiver Herb Haygood and threw a bomb directly over the middle of the offensive line. The pass was perfect, Haygood caught it and ran 58 yards for the touchdown.

As a member of the press, I was supposed to stand there and not react. Yeah, right. I jumped and smiled and yelled with the rest of the fans in the stadium.

We won the game 27-21, and reveled in that one shining moment of a dismal football season. Above all the glories the men’s basketball team and hockey team brought us, this one stands out in my mind as truly magical.

This is the one I’ll tell my kids about someday.