With a little more than five minutes to play and the Spartans (10-1 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) trailing the Boilermakers, 31-28, redshirt freshman linebacker Denicos Allen blocked and recovered a punt at the Purdue three-yard line. Two plays later, junior quarterback Kirk Cousins ran three yards for what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown.

“We’ve won three games on special teams plays,” head coach Mark Dantonio said. “Special teams is critical. Denicos Allen, play of the game with the blocked punt, I’d say.”

Allen, who lost his spot on the punt return team early in the season before recently earning it back, said it wasn’t his assignment to block the punt. But as the play developed, he saw an opportunity he couldn’t resist.

“I was supposed to force the kick, and I just saw an opening, just saw the ball, so I just went,” Allen said. “It was a clutch decision I had to make.”

If the play had not worked out the way it did, Allen said he likely would have gone back to the sideline to be yelled at by his coaches. Fortunately for him, he came through untouched for the block, which he said was one of the best moments of his young career — although he doesn’t remember it very clearly.

“I was excited when I saw the ball under me,” Allen said. “I kind of blacked out; it was an amazing feeling.”

Game changer

Less than eight minutes before Allen’s blocked punt, senior cornerback Chris L. Rucker made a big play of his own when he intercepted Boilermakers quarterback Rob Henry’s pass and returned it to the 20-yard line of Purdue (4-7, 2-5).

The interception led to Cousins’ second touchdown pass of the day, which pulled MSU to within one possession at 28-20. But more importantly, Dantonio said it swung momentum in the Spartans’ favor for the first time all day.

“If you watch our sideline, it got electric there in the fourth quarter,” Dantonio said. “It got electric after C.L. Rucker’s interception, that’s when it started.”

Senior linebacker Jon Misch said the energy on the MSU sideline had been low for the first three quarters of Saturday’s game as Purdue took a 20-13 lead. But with the interception, the Spartans finally had something to cheer about and rally around.

“Chris L. making that interception definitely gave us something to be able to believe in,” Misch said. “It made us know there was something we could feed off of.”

Following the interception, everything continued to go MSU’s way as the Spartans outscored Purdue, 22-3, in the final 10:55 on the way to the four-point win.

“It’s like everything, sometimes things start to roll, and it’s hard to stop,” Dantonio said. “That’s what happened.”

Senior stepping up

In his last game in front of the Spartan Stadium crowd, senior receiver Mark Dell had one of the better performances of his career.

Dell caught eight passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns, including a fourth-quarter touchdown and two-point conversion that put MSU within a field goal.

“Anytime you can take the field and make plays for your team, it’s a great thing,” Dell said. “Whenever my
number is called, I feel like it’s my job to make the offense
run well.”