When freshman running back LJ Scott scored MSU’s game-winning touchdown during MSU’s Big Ten championship victory over Iowa Saturday night, a 6-foot-2 and 268-pound Hawkeye defensive end went on a string to jostle Scott’s extended arm, but Scott moved the ball at the perfect time to evade a devastating turnover and reach it over the goal line.
Twenty-seven seconds later, the MSU players stormed the field, reaching their helmets high into the air to celebrate a 16-13 victory over Iowa. They knew what this win meant — a College Football Playoff spot — and the eventual selection on Sunday proved this true as No. 3 MSU (12-1) will be playing No. 2 Alabama (12-1) in the national semifinals — the Cotton Bowl, which the Spartans won last year over Baylor 42-41.
“We knew we had to execute each play,” Scott said. “You know, we knew each play was big and that we had to stay with the ball. I was just trying to make a big play for my brothers. We knew what we had at stake.”
Team of destiny
What awaits MSU now is quite possibly the most successful program of the decade — Alabama, a team coached by former-MSU head coach Nick Saban. During his years at MSU from 1995-99, Saban went 34-24-1 and left before the 1999 team’s Citrus Bowl game to become the coach at LSU.
MSU is one of seven universities out of the 128 NCAA Division I teams to have been selected for the College Football Playoff since its institution last year. The 2015 Spartans football team is the first in MSU history to play in the new format and has a chance at the national championship for the first time since 1966.
MSU Athletics Director Mark Hollis, on the field minutes after the game, said MSU’s current position makes this team feel like one of destiny.
“It sort of does (feel like destiny) and there are so many special kids on this team that you just embrace them every time you have a situation like this,” Hollis said. “Our goal is always to enter every season with these expectations and when you can have the conclusion end up this way it demonstrates that it is not just lip service, it is something that we feel we have the right coaches, we have a great president a fan base and our student-athletes have a relationship with their coaches that is just unbelievable.”
Knowing a berth was solidified, MSU fans in Lucas Oil Stadium rushed in a frenzy to the front row railings. Members and allegiances of the MSU program joined the team on the field and the Big Ten championship stage was promptly setup near the visiting sideline.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Connor Cook was named Big Ten championship game MVP after a day of completing 50 percent of his passes and running for a crucial fourth-and-two, which forced Cook to dive forward with his hurt right shoulder.
“Obviously I wasn’t 100 percent,” Cook said. “I got a grit it out being in a situation like this, playing for a championship. You have to go out there and compete.”
Head coach Mark Dantonio spoke victorious words and was recognized as a Big Ten champion for the third time at MSU.
“We started out today and wanted to go a little bit farther than we did last year, 12-1 and we’re marching, we’re marching,” Dantonio said. “I can’t say enough how proud we are to be Spartans.
“It’s a special time, with special people at a special place.”
Sparty’s heroes
All the while, the University of Michigan game hero, redshirt freshman defensive back Jalen Watts-Jackson was leaning on his crutches, standing dead-center of the green and white end zone.
His head was on a swivel as teammates danced around with blue, red, orange and yellow confetti trailing from their shoulder pads.
“It’s a blessing to be here with my team you know, just to see that everything paid off and everything worked out,” Watts-Jackson said. “This was always our goal, just to be here, and it is just a blessing.”
The trophy presentation ended, but the celebration continued. Watts-Jackson’s fellow punt-block “Ranger” and freshman safety Grayson Miller was awestruck by what he called his team’s fourth miraculous finish in just his 13th career game.
“Oh my God, this is the craziest feeling I have ever had,” Miller said.
Across the field, the game’s top scorer, junior kicker Michael Geiger, could be seen smiling at the crowd lined up above the tunnel as he walked into the locker room. Geiger made a 41-yard field goal against Ohio State to keep MSU’s playoff hopes alive.
“I’m feeling unbelievable,” said Geiger, who made field goals from 23, 29 and 47 yards during the game. “Awesome trip, but it’s not done yet, we still have all our goals in front of us, incredibly. This is one big step definitely and I am just looking forward to seeing what we can do in the final four.”
And Geiger was right, because MSU will be playing meaningful football on Dec. 31.
“So, we are where we want this program but you never, you never want to take a rest, you got to keep it pushing and you want to be back here every year,” Hollis said.
Not done yet
The Spartans’ next opponent, Alabama, has been in the top four in the CFP since the rankings were released in week nine and have been No. 2 since week 10. The Crimson Tide defeated Florida, 29-15, in the SEC championship game on Saturday. The Cotton Bowl is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EST at AT&T Stadium is in Arlington, Texas.
Dantonio said he would be enjoying the Big Ten championship on Saturday, and not moving on to any potential semifinal match-ups. However, Dantonio did say something that could just be a coincidence, but still speaks to the clear brand he’s built.
“Well, I just think we have resilience,” Dantonio said.
Many who have followed Dantonio’s team can also agree what he’s built his program upon. And that includes MSU human biology junior Blake Feighner, who stood in amazement and watched the entirety of the postgame celebrations.
“It means resiliency,” Feighner said. “It means being a team that is not supposed to be there. I’ve been a State fan for a while. I was a part of a fan base when I’d be happy at a bowl game, I’d be happy at six wins, I’d be happy at seven wins and now at this point we settle for nothing but a national championship and that is what I love about this program and that is what I love about Mark Dantonio.”
