The recorder held a replay the Champs Sports Bowl, a game played just days ago in Orlando, Fla.

Hoyer couldn’t watch the tape because he knew it wouldn’t lie. He knew it would show four interceptions, one fumble, a completion percentage below 40 and forced passes into coverage.

Finally, it would show a 24-21 loss to Boston College, a game that could have swayed the Spartans’ way if not for five Hoyer turnovers.

“That’s probably the worst I had felt after playing any sport in my life,” said Hoyer, a then-22-year-old who excelled in football and baseball as a high schooler in North Olmsted, Ohio, earlier this month.

After letting the tape settle in the Hoyer home without crossing the typically upbeat quarterback’s eyes, he returned to MSU in mid-January. On the first day back, Hoyer mustered the mental mettle to sit down and watch the fateful film. He sat alone in a room, reviewing each play, critiquing himself, looking at what he could have done better.

The film started so well — an 18-yard touchdown strike to tight end Kellen Davis less than two minutes into the game. But then it took a disastrous turn — an interception in the red zone, a fumble on MSU’s 11-yard line, an interception near the end of the first half, another in Spartans territory and one more while throwing from his own goal line.

“I was kind of down on myself and it took a while to actually go back and watch the film,” Hoyer said. “Once I finally got that over with, I felt like I could move on.”

And move on Hoyer has. He has led the No. 19 Spartans to a 9-3 record, a win over Michigan, a New Year’s Day bowl appearance and a shot at MSU’s third 10-win season in school history.

On Thursday, Hoyer will return to the scene of his lowest point as a Spartan when he takes the field at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium as MSU’s quarterback in a bowl game for the second straight year. This time, he will be playing in the Capital One Bowl as the Spartans search for the elusive double-digit victories and what would likely be considered an upset of No. 16 Georgia. If Hoyer helps knock off the Bulldogs, he would become the fourth MSU quarterback to beat Michigan and win a New Year’s Day bowl game in the same season.

With his return to Orlando, Hoyer has employed selective memory to ensure his outing in last year’s bowl game doesn’t repeat. He will remember how to deal with the hoopla of bowl week — the theme parks, the Best Buy shopping sprees, the lavishing of attention — and how it’s not his job to outplay the opposing team’s starter under center, likely be a top-10 NFL Draft pick for the second straight year.

But Hoyer won’t remember the events of the evening of Dec. 28 and the struggles that followed.

“Going into the season, I went through and looked (the Champs Sports Bowl tape) over a couple of times and put it out of my mind because I wanted to have a fresh start,” Hoyer said. “But you also look at it as motivation because you want to perform well. I find it kind of ironic that I’m going back to the same place and have another opportunity to prove myself.”

And while critics were quick to lampoon the Spartans starter for his bowl blunders last season, those within the MSU program saw a few bright products from Hoyer’s dark day.

MSU offensive coordinator Don Treadwell watched one of Hoyer’s best traits in action: his ability to “move past a performance, good or bad.” Teammate and junior center Joel Nitchman marveled as a determined Hoyer “work harder than I had ever seen him” after returning from the Champs Sports Bowl. Head coach Mark Dantonio saw the characteristic he might value more than any other in a player —- positive response to adversity —- as shown by his successful 2008 campaign.

And even Hoyer found plays from the bowl game to pin his hat on, like a 14-yard laser to wide receiver Deon Curry in the back of the end zone as he tiptoed along the sidelines with six minutes remaining, keeping MSU within a field goal of tying the game.

Yet for all the light at the end of the tunnel in Orlando, the task remains Hoyer’s to win his first bowl game.

For a quarterback whose talent would never make pro scouts’ eyes bulge, Hoyer has accomplished much in two years as MSU’s starter under center. He has beaten the Wolverines, defeated Notre Dame twice, gone to two straight bowl games, returned MSU to Big Ten title contention and graduated with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in social science.

“There’s only one thing left for me to do here,” Hoyer said, “and that’s win a bowl game.”