Senior wide reciever Tony Lippett runs the ball down the field past Baylor defense Jan. 1, 2015, during The Cotton Bowl Classic football game against Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Spartans defeated the Bears and claimed the Cotton Bowl Victory, 42-41. Erin Hampton/The State News
It's a moment that always brings fans to their feet and make the position players happy: when an offensive lineman scores a touchdown.
It happened in the Cotton Bowl, as LaQuan McGowan caught a touchdown in the third quarter to give Baylor a 41-21 lead in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The lineman weighs 390 pounds and his touchdown set off dancing in the stands and on the sidelines.
Except MSU's.
"Who's laughing now?" senior center Jack Allen said. "That guy can score as many touchdowns as he wants, he doesn't have one of these."
He then pointed to a new "Cotton Bowl Champions" hat that he was wearing.
MSU came back to win the Cotton Bowl 42-41, and it was revealed after the game that there was tension between the two sides before kickoff. Both head coaches spoke of respect all week, and then Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman talked about getting after junior quarterback Connor Cook and his lack of interest in Big Ten football.
"We don't watch any Big Ten football," he said. "Why would we? It's not interesting."
Cook responded before the game started.
"We'll see what Big Ten football is about come Thursday," he said.
Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi said before the game there were some things that his team took exception to.
"I won't talk too much about them," he said. "Let's just say, we were upset going into the locker room before the game with some of the attitudes. Our kids have class and we won the game with class. We'll leave it at that."
Not everyone got involved in the trash talk, Dantonio and Baylor head coach Art Briles both had very kind words about each other as men and the programs they run, even after the game.
"They played just like we thought they'd play," Briles said. "We thought they were a really good football team that played with a lot of poise."
Dantonio also said before the game he thought Baylor should have been a team that was selected for the College Football Playoff, he was just a complimentary of the Bears following the game.
"We just beat an outstanding team," he said. "And we came back to do it with girt really, just grit and guts and belief in each other."
Senior safety Kurtis Drummond said while the team noticed the celebration and reaction after McGowan's score, they didn't need to use it as motivation.
"We noticed it," he said. "But we're self motivated. If you saw us gabbing at anyone we were really just trying to motivate each other."
Drummond said the pre-game chatter what just that, chatter.
"It's part of football," he said. "You're going to talk, and you're going to try to get in people's heads, credit to our guys and the kind of team we have that we were able to stay resilient and keep fighting."
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