Madison, Wisc. — As junior quarterback Brian Hoyer’s fourth-and-two pass from the Wisconsin 38-yard line bounced off junior running back Javon Ringer’s hand, the Spartans hopelessly watched the ball float to the turf — their chance at victory sinking right along with it.
MSU and No. 9-ranked Wisconsin combined for 1,025 yards of offense in what could have been labeled an offensive boxing match with each team throwing counterpunches at its opponent. In the end, though, the Badgers (5-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) threw the knockout jab as the Spartans (4-1, 0-1) failed to land several punches in their 37-34 defeat.
There was the one-yard run by Ringer on third-and-seven from the Wisconsin 36-yard line with 4:23 remaining, forcing sophomore Brett Swenson to kick a 53-yard field goal — which he missed.
“I guess we were trying to go for good field position so we could get a field goal,” said Ringer, who had 145 rushing yards on 10 carries and 88 receiving yards on seven receptions. “I guess the coaches had this plan and I just heard the play and just ran with it.
“I think Wisconsin had it pretty sniffed out.”
There was the incomplete pass to freshman wide receiver Mark Dell — who also scored a touchdown — on third-and-two from the Wisconsin 38-yard line with 1:19 left in the game.
“Some may call it a pass break up, others wouldn’t,” said MSU head coach Mark Dantonio, implying that a pass interference penalty could have been called.
There was the 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty by senior Kellen Davis at the Wisconsin 27-yard line on a third-and-14 play.
The pass was incomplete and would have forced the Badgers to punt. Instead, Wisconsin drew another personal foul call and a holding call deep in Spartan territory to score the eventual game-winning field goal.
“In the heat of the game, the whistle’s blowing, you’re making split-second decisions by refs and by players both,” Dantonio said. “We’re going to play aggressive football.”
There was the 70-yard Ringer run — to the Wisconsin 10-yard line — to open the second half that ended in a field goal as the Spartans failed to get into the end zone.
There was the 56-yard Badgers drive with 50 seconds left in the first half that ended in a 47-yard field goal by kicker Taylor Mehlhaff as time expired — one of three field goals on the night for him.
“It was just a good drive,” senior linebacker Kaleb Thornhill said. “We didn’t execute the way we should have. We couldn’t get them off the field when we needed to on third downs. We need to do a better job of that.”
There was a lot that went wrong for MSU. But through all the mishaps, the Spartans can see a little bit of light.
Senior strong safety Travis Key — who had an interception that led to Swenson’s 35-yard, game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter — rallied the players on the sidelines by saying “this is not last year.”
And while the Spartans suffered another heartbreaking loss in what seems to have become an annual event, they are determined to prevent this season from spiraling out of control.
“I think you can see from the way we played the game that this isn’t last year,” said Hoyer, who threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns. “We came out and played, and even though we were down 10 at one point, we came back and tied it up.
“No one gave up. We played until the last play and played as hard as we could.”
The Spartans are aware of went wrong.
Acknowledging that is the first step to heading in the right direction.
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It’s the first step in making over a football program.
“You come out with confidence because I feel like we proved that we can play with anybody,” Ringer said. “But there’s still a lot of things we need to correct. We made a lot of mistakes and you can’t win with penalties. But I guess what we can take from this is we can learn from it.”
MSU will attempt to apply the lessons it learned Saturday this week against Northwestern at Spartan Stadium.
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