Columbus, Ohio — MSU junior quarterback Drew Stanton lay flattened on the ground, staring up at the sky.

He had just been sacked for the 12th time on the final play of Saturday's 35-24 loss to No. 15 Ohio State (4-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) before he rose and gingerly walked off the field.

"Any time you lose, it's frustrating," Stanton said. "We had chances to win, there's no doubt about that. We just didn't find a way to do it in the end. If we want to be a good football team, we have to start finishing games like this."

The problem wasn't in the way the No. 16 Spartans (4-2, 1-2) started the game. After getting out to a 3-0 lead, MSU recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and went up 10-0 following sophomore running back Jehuu Caulcrick's 3-yard touchdown run.

MSU's secondary was victimized for a 51-yard score on Ohio State's next possession, but the Spartans answered right back when Stanton found junior receiver Jerramy Scott on a 36-yard touchdown strike.

Then, with the first half coming to a close and the Spartans driving after another Buckeyes turnover, everything went wrong for the Spartans.

With less than 20 seconds in the half, Stanton was stopped for no gain on a second-down play. With no timeouts left, the field-goal unit was sent on the field to hurry a kick rather than have Stanton spike the ball and take more time to set up the field goal.

What resulted was massive miscommunication among a confused special-teams unit, and a blocked field goal was returned for a Buckeyes' touchdown.

"When they say 'field goal' I just run out there and do my job — I don't even think about what's going on," junior kicker John Goss said. "Somebody yelled, 'Field goal!' and I just went out there. It just didn't work out."

The late Ohio State score closed the deficit to three and gave the Buckeyes the momentum going into the half.

"That was definitely a letdown because we were playing well at that time," sophomore tight end Kellen Davis said. "If we would have kept on scoring we would have came out at the half and been up by 14 — at least 10."

MSU had built its first-half lead behind four Ohio State fumbles, three of which were lost opportunities.

"They put it on the carpet a few times, we came up with some big plays on special teams, and then we give one up on the special teams," MSU head coach John L. Smith said. "We had those opportunities, and then it's just a shame we gave it back. We had the breaks enough to win this game. That's what we were going to need."

The Buckeyes built on their momentum and took a 21-17 lead early in the third quarter when quarterback Troy Smith found receiver Ted Ginn Jr. for a 57-yard touchdown. But MSU retook the lead after mounting an impressive 80-yard drive, capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run from senior running back Jason Teague.

The Spartans had the chance to build on that lead in the fourth quarter after recovering another fumble in Ohio State territory but came away with nothing after Goss had another field goal blocked.

It was all Ohio State after that as the Buckeyes scored on a long touchdown pass, once again picking apart MSU's secondary for another big play.

"Our defense played well at times," Smith said. "There was some real good things, some things we can build on defensively, and then there was some very poor things, some things that, again, I look at us as coaches, and it's our fault first. We're asking some kids to do some things that maybe they can't do."

Attempts to get back into the game were shot down by quarterback sacks and timely play from the Ohio State defense corps.

"We knew that coming in that they were going to try to pressure us and do a lot of different things," Stanton said. "We knew they were going to blitz, and as long as we could block it up, they had holes in the back end."

Although Stanton was able to pass for 340 yards and burn the Buckeyes on some called blitzes, the loss of senior offensive lineman Stefon Wheeler to injury in the first half enabled the Buckeyes to get 12 sacks for a total loss of 58 yards.

With their second conference loss, the Spartans are likely out of the Big Ten race.

"We're out of it, and our kids have to realize that," Smith said. "They have to send the seniors out as winners — that's our goal."

Eric Fish can be reached at fisheric@msu.edu.