MSU (9-1 overall, 6-0 Big Ten) was ahead by six and facing fourth-and-1 at the Cornhuskers’ 27-yard line early in the fourth quarter when head coach Mark Dantonio ordered the trickery named after the “Peanuts” main character.

Once again, junior punter Mike Sadler was the secret weapon and designated ball-carrier on the deceptive play, this time as the holder on the field goal unit.

Freshman kicker Michael Geiger lined up for a 44-yard attempt when Sadler pulled the ball at the last minute — as Lucy does to Charlie Brown countless times in the cartoon — before pushing, spinning and muscling his way for a 3-yard gain with Geiger as his lead blocker.

“Power” is the word Dantonio used to describe Sadler’s second successful special teams sneak attack this season.

Three plays later, sophomore quarterback Connor Cook tossed a laser-sharp 27-yard touchdown to junior receiver Keith Mumphery, giving MSU the separation it needed to clinch a share of the Legends Division at Memorial Stadium.

“That’s kind of this season in a nutshell right there,” senior linebacker Max Bullough said. “We came to play. We came to win.”

It wasn’t MSU’s best win — it yielded a season-high 392 yards of offense and Nebraska’s (7-3, 4-2) star running back Ameer Abdullah became the first player to rush for 100-plus yards against its defense.

But it was the biggest win in a long time. The Spartans now require just one win in the final two games (or a Minnesota loss to Wisconsin this weekend) to book a return trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship.

“I thought our defense (was) a little uncharacteristic there,” Dantonio said. “They were able to run the ball more effectively than we thought.”

Giving season

Charlie Brown likely is shelved for another week if the Spartans capitalized more efficiently on Nebraska’s three first-quarter turnovers. MSU took over in Cornhusker territory after all three, but had just 10 points to show for it.

Nebraska gave the ball away five times on the day — most of which were unforced errors by MSU — with four coming in the first half. Yet Nebraska only trailed by a manageable 13-point margin at halftime.

Backup running back Imani Cross busted a 51-yard scoring scamper up the gut of the Spartan defense on Nebraska’s first possession of the third quarter. It was a sizeable dent in the nation’s No. 1 defense, and ignited the red-filled crowd of 90,872.

After Sadler pinned the Cornhuskers on their own 1-yard line, quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. was stripped of the ball while running an option play, and MSU recovered the final turnover 3 yards from the end zone.

Junior running back Jeremy Langford turned it into six points quickly, powering in his second touchdown run of the day to make it 27-14 MSU. Langford has continued to evolve into one of MSU’s most lethal weapons offensively, posting 151 yards and three scores.

“We didn’t lose that football game because of a lack of effort or a lack of want-to,” Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said.

Pelini’s resilient quarterback kept the game within reach, though, by launching an impressive 38-yard pass to receiver Kenny Bell in the end zone.

Sadler’s run setup Cook’s touchdown pass to push MSU ahead by two possessions and, just as he did in the last game versus Michigan, Langford iced the game with a breakaway touchdown run late in the fourth quarter — this time from 37 yards out.

“I thought it was a really big statement, especially against a really good team like Nebraska,” Cook said.

‘This is a moment’

Dantonio-led Spartan teams now have won in every Big Ten stadium. Besting Nebraska gave MSU’s seniors their 38th career victory, making them the winningest class in school history.

The win bumped the Spartans up one spot in the Associated Press poll to No. 13 on Sunday.

“I am very, very happy for all our Spartans everywhere,” Dantonio said. “This is a moment — a moment we can … take in.”

The odds are overwhelmingly in MSU’s favor to return to the Big Ten title game, and be forever known as the only two-time Legends Division champions before the conference realigns into East and West divisions. Barring any major upsets, it will be Ohio State and MSU in Indy.

MSU closes out the regular season traveling to Northwestern on Saturday before finishing against Minnesota at home.

“That’s where we want to be,” Bullough said. “We put ourselves in a position where we can sit here and talk about how they gashed us in the run game … but we won. And that’s the difference between being 7-6 … and hopefully competing for the championship at the end of the year.”