“My feeling was, any time the team’s playing well, you sort of have that extra motivation,” Cousins said. “Everybody’s clicking and you have the extra drive and, obviously coming off of the past two tough losses, I felt like guys might not have that step and I said, ‘If you don’t have it, look to me because I’ll have it and you can hop on my back. That was just my message. As a captain, that’s your job; that’s what you have to do every week and maybe I hadn’t done as good a job as that in the past two weeks.”

Cousins did his best to help his teammates, putting almost every pass in the perfect spot and finishing 22-for-25 passing for 353 yards and two touchdowns.

Sophomore tight end Brian Linthicum, who caught four passes, said he could sense the leadership from Cousins in the huddle.

“It makes me feel comfortable,” Linthicum said.

“Kirk has a great command for the huddle; everybody is with him from the beginning and I just know that it makes me feel comfortable to do my job when I know that he’s going to put the ball there.”

Head coach Mark Dantonio closed practice to the media this week because he wanted the players to focus on themselves, rather than outside distractions. Cousins took it upon himself to focus the team this week.

“All week, Kirk has shown more command. We all had a chip on our shoulder, and Kirk has been saying all week, ‘I’m going Saturday, if you want to come with me get on my back,’” Linthicum said.

“And he was saying that before the game and during the game I think it played out exactly as it should have.”

Dantonio said seeing the leadership from Cousins shows why he is just the second sophomore captain in school history.

“I thought he got himself ready to go, and that’s tough sometimes to lead when you are a sophomore and are surrounded by older players,” Dantonio said.

“He’s done an outstanding job with leading this team, and I thought he played very well today. He was elected captain of this football team and I think our team will follow our captains.”

Despite all the bad breaks this season, Cousins has stayed positive and said the team has not once given up.

“This is probably the toughest season I’ve ever gone through, on any football team I’ve ever played on,” Cousins said.

“Just as far as all of the bad breaks and tough losses especially with all of the preparation and work that we’ve put in and higher expectations then what we’ve had. It is what it is, we’re learning from it; we’re becoming better football players and becoming better people.”