Madison, Wis. - The MSU football team rallied behind another fallen Spartan soldier Saturday as it beat Wisconsin 42-28 at Camp Randall Stadium.
A season-ending injury stung sophomore cornerback Tyrell Dortch when he broke his leg in the second quarter.
After doctors reset his leg in the field, Dortch was taken to the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, where he underwent surgery. He’ll stay at the hospital until sometime midweek.
The game was tied at seven, and Dortch jumped up to block a touchdown pass to wide receiver Lee Evans. Evans came down with the ball and Dortch came down awkwardly on his leg and broke it in two places, said Herb Ross, the team’s head orthopedic surgeon.
“Basically he was in the end zone and he bent over backwards and rotated at the same time,” Ross said. “Both bones in his leg, about 3 inches above the ankle, fractured. They were clean fractures, but there was a lot of strangulation that shut off the circulation so we straightened his leg on the field.”
And the horrified look on Dortch’s face as doctors reset the bones was all the incentive MSU needed to make a comeback, head coach Bobby Williams said.
“It was tough for me to see that kid,” Williams said. “To look down and look into his eyes and see the hurt and pain that he was going through, I felt that pain with him. Just looking at him, a young man who really gave it up for the team.”
MSU rebounded almost immediately after the injury, scoring on its next drive to gridlock the game at 14 with 1:02 left in the half.
But it was the emotional halftime talks that sent MSU soaring to 28 second-half points, Williams said.
“There was a lot said,” Williams said. “Tyrell made some comments as he got on the ambulance that he wanted the team to really respond, and at halftime the seniors got up and made their comments. I challenged the team on the way out in the second half and they responded.”
An injury can be motivation for a team to rally, but Dortch’s was even more so because of the sacrifices he had made for the team, defensive coordinator Bill Miller said.
“It’s a tragedy,” Miller said. “For all the things he’s already done and things he’s given up for us defensively. It was very emotional on the field and in the locker room.
“He’s always got a smile on his face and like I said, he’s always willing to do whatever he can to help the team out. You just hate to have something like that happen to anybody. But one of your own kids, particularly one that has done so much for us already in terms of being unselfish, it hits you in the heart.”
Dortch finished the game with two solo tackles and one interception.
The offense lent Dortch, a former tailback, to the defense before the Iowa game on Oct. 13 after both starting cornerbacks broke ankles in consecutive days during the bye week.
Before his move, Dortch had averaged 6.3 yards per carry as a tailback, playing behind standout junior T.J. Duckett. He ended his season on defense with 12 tackles and one interception.
While losing Dortch gave MSU an emotional boost, defensive secondary coach Troy Douglas said the team won the game for all its injured players, including senior quarterback Ryan Van Dyke, who broke his jaw in the loss to Minnesota on Oct. 20.
“All of the players were hollering, ‘Let’s do it for Tyrell and all of our fallen Spartan soldiers,’” he said.
