There wasn’t a need for a Herculean play to change momentum, just one more stop.

But in the final minutes, with the game on the line,“the Spartan defense couldn’t get the ball back”:http://statenews.com/article/2012/10/thunderstruck, allowing Iowa (4-2, 2-0) to use nine plays to drive 68 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 55 seconds remaining.

The inability for MSU’s defense to make a stop in the game’s final minutes has become a recurring trend dating back to losses to both Ohio State and Notre Dame earlier in the season.

“There’s no doubt about it,” MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said about the defense’s late-game struggles.

“In the fourth quarter we (got to) finish defensively. … They shouldn’t have scored on the last drive. … We didn’t make a play and there was a couple more plays that we left out there in that same series that we should have made plays on.”

Junior linebacker Denicos Allen said the frustration was made worse by the fact the Spartans appeared to have the answer for Iowa’s offense for most of the afternoon, just not when it mattered most.

“It’s really disappointing,” Allen said.
“That last drive was all we needed, just to hold them and we couldn’t come up with the stop. That’s the most disappointing thing when you hold them the whole game to not much of a running game and their last series they get a lot of running yards. It’s frustrating.

“We played well throughout the game, but we’ve got to learn how to finish and come out on top. ”

Despite these struggles, junior safety Isaiah Lewis said he thinks the defense played well overall, and ultimately, the defensive breakdown wasn’t representative of the quality of MSU’s defense.

“Iowa has good players too, with a good blocking scheme,” Lewis said.
“Things happen. It can get frustrating but I’m not worried about it. We have a good defense. Just because we give up some small things, that does not change the fact that we have a good defense. Most defenses don’t do what we do. Things happen. Sometimes things don’t fall our way.”

Going forward, head coach Mark Dantonio said the mistakes on the final drive of regulation can’t be dwelled on.

“(They’re) things that shouldn’t happen but happened,” Dantonio said. “That’s sort of the way it rolls on you sometimes, but the message to our football team is look forward, don’t look backward. It can always get worse. We got Michigan next week and make sure that we’re ready to play that football game.”