The win, combined with Ohio State’s loss to Purdue, means the Spartans will battle Iowa next week with first place in the Big Ten at stake.

“The big thing we can emphasize is that we’re 3-1 in this conference right now,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. “We’ve got Iowa next week, we’re a 4-3 football team right now, we’ve battled back from a 1-3 start and that’s not easy to do.”

MSU got off to its slowest start in 364 days, not scoring in the first half for the first time since Ohio State took a 28-0 lead into halftime on Oct. 18, 2008.

The Spartans had their chances, though. The team quickly drove down the field on the opening drive but was stopped on both third and fourth down from the goal line. Freshman running back Larry Caper was stopped on third down and sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins, who played the entire game, was stopped for no gain on a quarterback sneak on fourth down.

“I did not think I was in,” Cousins said. “I need to get in in that situation.”

Northwestern (4-3 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) took an early 7-0 lead on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Kafka to receiver Andrew Brewer.

But while MSU’s defense held Northwestern for much of the half, the offense couldn’t get anything going, as three of its six first half drives were three-and-outs. Another went four plays. Its two most successful drives ended in a turnover on downs and a fumble.

Cousins, who did not play last week save for taking a knee against Illinois due
to an ankle injury, showed his rust early and was not on target for much of the first half.

He took the team down the field late in the second quarter, but the drive stalled when freshman running back Edwin Baker, seeing his first action since Week 1, fumbled at the Northwestern 18-yard line with 55 seconds left in the half.

“(There were) a couple missed opportunities in there, but we’re a young football team and sometimes there’s going to be mistakes,” Dantonio said.

At halftime, offensive coordinator Don Treadwell said he told the offense to stay focused, don’t play out of themselves, trust in what they’re doing and stay with it.

That, combined with whatever else was said, sparked the Spartans in the second half, as the team scored on its first four possessions of the half.

After forcing a fumble on Northwestern’s first possession of the half, MSU drove 64 yards in seven plays, capped by a 22-yard touchdown strike from Cousins to senior receiver Blair White.

After another quick Northwestern possession, Cousins and White hooked up again for a 47-yard touchdown bomb to put MSU head 14-7.

A Northwestern three-and-out led to another long drive, a 9-play drive capped by a 28-yard field goal by senior kicker Brett Swenson.

On the ensuing kickoff, the first play of the fourth quarter, Northwestern’s Jeravin Matthews muffed the short kick, which bounced forward and was recovered by senior safety Ashton Henderson at the Wildcats’ 22-yard line.

On the first play of that drive, Caper scampered in for a back-breaking touchdown run, giving MSU a 24-7 lead.

The Wildcats scored on their next possession, a 1-yard pass on fourth-and-goal from Kafka to Zeke Markshausen. Markshusen caught 16 passes for 111 yards on the day.

But from there, the defense again held the Wildcats, stopping them on fourth-and-10 from the MSU 40-yard line and again on a fourth-and-seven from the Northwestern 40.

“For the first time since week No. 1, we can say right now, we’re a 4-3 team and we’re a winner,” Dantonio said. “And that was the goal.”

MSU’s linebackers had a big day with Northwestern throwing many short
passes. Junior Eric Gordon racked up 15 tackles, junior Greg Jones had
14 and senior Brandon Denson had 10.

“We were all out just flying around trying to make plays,” Gordon said.

White had a career day in both receptions and yards, catching 12
passes for 186 yards.

“We had anticipated him having some matchups that we like out there,” Treadwell said. “We were able to go after that.”

After the slow start, Cousins finished 21-of-31 passing for 281 yards
and two touchdowns.

Now, the team looks forward to what should be a wild night game against Iowa, who won 20-10 at Wisconsin on Saturday and has lost just once in a stretch of 13 games since a 16-13 defeat at the hands of the Spartans last year at Spartan Stadium.

“They’re going to come here and have to go through us,” Cousins said. “We expect a great game from them and we’re going to have to play better than we’ve played any week this season to have an opportunity to beat them.”