Move over “Little Giants” and “Mouse Trap” and make space for “Rocket,” the newest miracle play of the Dantonio era. If you’re counting, that’s three now in the past two seasons.

For those who missed it live — or in one of the 7,000 SportsCenter replays — there were four seconds left in the game, the No. 15 Spartans had blown a 14-point lead and the game was tied at 31.

MSU had possession but was out of field goal range. So it was up to senior quarterback Kirk Cousins and a last-second Hail Mary effort. I laughed at the fact they weren’t just going to take the knee and play for overtime. The Hail Mary (or in this case “Rocket” play) never works. There would be a better chance of an interception touchdown than a Spartan victory.

That wasn’t the case Saturday night, when nearly everything rolled the Spartans’ way. The Wisconsin defender jumped too early — missing the swat — the ball caromed of senior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham’s face mask and miraculously took a direct bounce into senior wide receiver Keith Nichol’s hands.

Nichol was short of the goal line, but attempted to power his way in. It was called no touchdown, but after further review Nichol barely got the tip of the ball to break the plain. Touchdown. The Spartans had upset then-undefeated Wisconsin, 37-31.

After the game, MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said it was a play they had spent time practicing every week, but usually without a defense on the field.

How it worked out can only be attributed to the grace of God, Dantonio said.
It seemed as if fate was on the Spartans’ side.

“A perfect storm,” Dantonio called it. And he hit it right on the head.

Let’s face it, the Spartans probably should never have been in the position to win the game. They were downright embarrassed in the first quarter. Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson made the MSU defense — which was supposed to be the best in the Big Ten and one of the best in the nation — look like a peewee football squad.

Seven minutes into the game, the Spartans had ran one play on offense, which resulted in a fumble, and it was already 14-0. The realization that these guys didn’t belong on the field with a team like Wisconsin began to creep up on the sellout Spartan Stadium crowd, which went from electric to silent in that time.

Then fate, luck, or whatever you want to call it intervened. Badgers wide receiver Nick Toon failed to see a deep pass from Wilson and it was intercepted by senior safety Trenton Robinson. That was the first time the Spartans saw they could compete with the Wisconsin offense.

The spark carried over to the defense’s next series, when MSU forced a safety and recorded their first points of the game. Then the Spartans scored again, this time on a double reverse.

Sophomore cornerback Darqueze Dennard blocked a field goal on the next Badger’s possession and, on 4th-and-2, Cousins hooked up with Cunningham on a quick slant that went from first down to 35-yard touchdown.

If you blinked you missed it. All of a sudden the Spartans went from being blown out, to taking a 23-14 lead into the half.

And it occurred with plays that you usually won’t even see one of in a game, never mind five of them in a quarter and a half. Even when the Spartans came out in the second half, it continued.

Senior wide receiver Keshawn Martin caught a ball and ran straight to the sideline. It looked like a case of Martin trying to do too much, but he found an opening and burst around the corner for a touchdown. The ensuing play was one of the biggest. Cousins threw a perfect pass to Cunningham, who planted his foot down for a two-point conversion.

With the Spartans giving up the 31-17 lead they built, nothing proved more important than that single point. It changed the whole dynamic of the final drive. Instead of panic, there was the comfort of overtime.

The rest was history. It was a game featuring too many plays to simply be considered lucky, and a game that had too many rare plays to simply be credited to skill.

Regardless of what caused it, whether something just clicked, or whether it really was “the grace of God,” the game and the play will always be remembered.

If MSU can use it as momentum in the same way they did Little Giants, then the team will be as well.

But for now, it’s on to Nebraska, where the division implications make the stakes even higher than against Wisconsin. For Spartan fans, hopefully it won’t have to come down to a miracle again, although I’m sure they would take their fourth in two seasons.

Anthony Odoardi is a State News football reporter. He can be reached at odoardia@msu.edu.