Evanston, Ill. — When MSU was down 38-3 against Northwestern midway through the third quarter, things looked hopeless.
It looked like it could be John L. Smith's last game as head coach.
It certainly looked like the Spartans came in flat for the fourth straight game.
Most of all, it looked impossible for the Spartans to turn around and erase a 35-point deficit.
But that's exactly what they did.
Instead of rolling over, the Spartans fought back. And when freshman kicker Brett Swenson hit a 28-yard field goal with 13 seconds left in the game, the comeback was official.
But not just any comeback. MSU had engineered the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I-A history to beat Northwestern, 41-38, on Saturday in Evanston, Ill.
"We saved our season," senior center Kyle Cook said. "We really should've come out and done that right away. We shouldn't have let it get to what it was. But it showed a lot of character in our team."
The improbable comeback erased a first half in which the Spartans made the same mistakes that plagued them against Michigan and Ohio State. MSU was down 24-3 at halftime after being flagged six times for 55 yards and giving up 269 total yards of offense.
At halftime, Smith let the players speak and try to spark a second-half comeback.
"He left it up to the seniors to step up and say something, and most guys stepped up and spoke and gave us motivation," said senior linebacker and captain David Herron Jr. "The only thing I said was, 'Believe — and really mean it.'"
Despite the halftime speeches, MSU still couldn't get it going to start the third quarter. Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bachér threw a touchdown pass to extend the lead to 31-3. On the next drive, senior quarterback Drew Stanton forced a pass that was intercepted, and Bachér threw another touchdown to put the Wildcats up 38-3.
That's when the Spartans flipped the switch, led by some unlikely players.
Junior running back Jehuu Caulcrick capped off a 65-yard drive by battling for an 18-yard touchdown catch — the first of his career. MSU's defense then stood strong, forcing a three-and-out and giving the ball back to the offense. Stanton continued where he left off, moving the ball to Northwestern's 4-yard line, where freshman running back A.J. Jimmerson closed the gap to 38-17 with a touchdown run.
Jimmerson, who saw little action during the two previous games, carried five times for 22 yards and caught four passes for 21 yards in place of Caulcrick, who injured his foot.
"The person I'm most proud of today is A.J. because I think A.J. stepped up and really grew up today," Stanton said. "He had some crucial plays he was involved in and really helped us out."
MSU's defense continued to make plays to spur the comeback. Junior linebacker Kaleb Thornhill intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep MSU within three touchdowns. MSU forced Northwestern to punt on its next drive. Two more unlikely Spartans came up with big plays, as sophomore Devin Thomas blocked the punt and freshman Ashton Henderson returned it 33 yards for a touchdown.
While unlikely players got MSU close, Stanton was the one who capped off the comeback. He ran in for a touchdown to bring the score to 38-31, then threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver T.J. Williams in the corner of the end zone after scrambling to the right to elude two pass rushers.
Stanton finished 27-of-37 passing attempts for 294 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Travis Key — a junior walk-on who started at strong safety in place of junior Nehemiah Warrick, who injured his knee at practice Thursday — intercepted Bachér's pass on the next drive to set up Swenson's game-winning field goal. It was just one of many big defensive plays MSU made in the second half to put the offense in good position.
"We couldn't have done it as an offense without our defense," Cook said.
MSU's next game is Saturday against Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
