The gap in the score transformed into a gorge.

Ring the death knell.

No football bounces to the hands of an opponent so unswervingly, and no opponent goes so unabated to the end zone in a game you are to eventually win.

No team drives so deep into scoring position to force the ball to covered spots. No team kills its own momentum by playing catch with the other team in a game it’s to eventually win.

A two-touchdown deficit would be a typical stage for a MSU comeback in the last three years. But not this year, not with this team, not in this game.

It’s not to say this current iteration of MSU isn’t talented, but it was unprepared to face the vaunted Wisconsin attack — a rarity under head coach Mark Dantonio.

Under Dantonio, MSU has out-gamed Ohio State University twice in meaningful contests, defeated a solid Stanford team in the Rose Bowl and out-schemed Iowa with a list of time-eating plays in the Big Ten title game that MSU dared the Hawkeyes to stop them.

But those teams were, by those points, fully developed and capable of making up for blatant errors. This team looks far from a title, yet they were still far from it even after Notre Dame.

On Saturday MSU was flat, out of synch and lost for the first time in many games. Chalk it up to the plethora of new starters, or Tyler O’Connor’s miscues or ineffective secondary play. It was an ugly game leading to an ugly blowout that has seldom occurred in the last six seasons.

It was the kind of game, the early kind of letdown, that diminishes hopes of the fan base. The win over Notre Dame seemed to be a rejuvenating victory, but now it’s a mere tiny “W” in the win column.

The fluid offense on display against the Irish ran dry. The offensive line’s push and pull looked peewee in comparison to the hard-charging Badger defense.

The Badgers came with bite. The Spartans responded by playing dead.

O’Connor, as serviceable as he is, looked like a deer in the headlights. After four years of learning the offense, he looked like a freshman. Wisconsin quarterback redshirt-freshman Alex Hornibrook commanded like a senior, trusting his protection and delivering balls on the spot, especially on third down.

The MSU secondary seemed to forget it takes four downs to punt. Wisconsin’s receivers had nearly five yards of space to catch the ball on nearly every third and long.

No matter how the Spartans tried to combat their ineffectiveness, it all sort of “ended up empty,” as Dantonio said after the game.

Close losses at home against top-10 opposition come from time to time, but blowouts at the merciless hands of top-10 opposition are nearly unforgivable for a team with lofty goals.

The only silver lining, perhaps, is that the loss came early. Adversity changes game plans and attitudes. Those changes will have a chance to take effect in the coming weeks, as MSU will play lowly Indiana, BYU, Northwestern and Maryland before having to lace the big boy cleats for what will sure be another dog fight against University of Michigan.

MSU was predicted to take a step back, and this loss very well proves it. It's a game they'd win in 2013 and a game they'd win in 2015. But not this season. 

Perhaps they have some magic left. But perhaps they don’t.