Head coach Mark Dantonio and offensive coordinator Don Treadwell unveiled their newest wrinkle for Martin on Saturday — the Wildcat formation.

In the Wildcat, the quarterback splits out and a running back — or, in this case, a receiver — takes a shotgun snap and has the option to run himself, hand the ball off or throw. MSU ran one play out of the formation Saturday, a 19-yard run by Martin.

The formation recently has been all the rage in the professional and college ranks and was largely popularized by Arkansas when it ran running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones out of it, but Dantonio said he expects defenses to adjust to it in the future.

“We haven’t really done much with it because Keshawn is a young player,” Dantonio said. “But I think using a tailback in that position is what I see, more people using tailbacks there. Certainly it worked (against Purdue).”

Dantonio said Martin reminds him of former Spartans receiver Derrick Mason, who had 120 receptions and 1,914 receiving yards from 1993-96 and was a fourth-round pick in the 1997 NFL Draft.

“He’s a sophomore, so he’s a guy that’s just coming into himself as a football player, overall,” Dantonio said. “He’s a young person that is developing as a wide receiver and gaining confidence with every game.”

Emotional victory

Defensive line coach Ted Gill broke down in tears during a radio interview for the Spartan Sports Network on the field immediately following MSU’s win Saturday after junior defensive end Colin Neely, who sat out some plays due to fatigue, sacked Purdue quarterback Joey Elliott on fourth down to seal the victory. Purdue ran 92 offensive plays compared to MSU’s 49 and doubled the Spartans in time of possession.

“I’ll tell you one thing — the biggest play in this game was that field goal block,” Gill said, breaking down. “We got after their butt and our kids came real hard and got after them and it’s so emotional on that sideline toward the end, that I knew we were going to block it, and then our kids rose to the end and sacked them in the end. It’s a great performance.”

It’s been an emotional season for MSU, which has seen seven of its 11 games come down to the final minutes.

“I think when you win or lose on the last play of the game, it’s an emotional time,” Dantonio said. “Your players play so hard to get to that point to win and when you finally see that happen at the end of the game like that, it becomes very emotional for a lot of people, but that was a happy locker room.”