It was fourth-and-6 on the MSU 34-yard line, not the textbook situation for a fake punt. But, Dantonio has never been one for the textbooks. He dialed up a direct snap to tailback Connor Heyward, who scooted down the Penn State sideline for 26 yards and a first down at the Penn State 40-yard line.

“We practiced the fake punt this week, we just put it in,” Heyward said postgame. “Coach D (Mark Dantonio) said we were gonna run it. I believed him, but I didn’t really know if we were gonna run it or not, but you just have to stay ready.”

After a momentum-changing trick play on the fake punt, the Michigan State brain trust – whether it was Dantonio or co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner, or a combination of the two – decided to strike while the iron was hot. A toss to Heyward belied his option to throw, which Heyward did, and wideout Cam Chambers came down with the ball at the 1-yard line. 

“We ran that in practice once, (we) ran it on the (first-team) defense, and I almost threw an interception,” Heyward said. “I didn’t know we were gonna run it … I guess they just believed in me to make a play.”

The play set up the first Spartan touchdown of the game, a La'Darius Jefferson 1-yard rush.

“Coming into the game, that’s kind of what the underdog does,” Lewerke said of the Spartans, who were two-touchdown underdogs. “Try to fool the defense a little bit, and I thought we did a good job of executing those trick plays.”

The trick plays may have set up the one touchdown to tie the game and keep MSU afloat, but they didn’t wake up the offense. The drive chart from the game reveals four straight punts to end the first half, and an interception on the first possession coming out of the locker room. 

However, it did give the whole team confidence that they could make plays to stay in the game against the Nittany Lions.

“Coach D is gonna take chances. He’s a champion, he’s got championship DNA,” safety and team captain Khari Willis said. “We’re gonna back him up, that’s our guy. We go as he goes.”

The offense did start to get in gear, particularly the running game, which featured a lot more inside zones and run-pass options than in previous weeks. That might seem like a small change in philosophy, but it was significant on the day.

The Spartans trailed 17-14 late in the fourth quarter and drove to the Penn State 23-yard line, but were stopped in their tracks there. Sophomore kicker Matt Coghlin had made his last sixteen field goals, and a 40-yard try to tie the game certainly seemed within his range.

Dantonio decided to try to wake up the echoes of his 2010 victory over Notre Dame, calling “Little Giants,” with yet another trick play. But this one did not work. Lewerke’s pass to defensive tackle Raequan Williams was broken up by Penn State’s John Reid, and the second-guessing began anew.

“We wanted to play to win, didn’t want to play to line up and try to tie it,” Dantonio said. “I felt that quite honestly Penn State was too explosive with (Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley) making too many loose plays, that they would eventually find their way back down the field. At least, it put them in a different mode of operation maybe, with four minutes to go … I just wanted to play to win, and I thought we had an opportunity for it.”

Ironically, it may have been Dantonio’s by-the-book call that was his most radical. Facing a fourth-and-10 after a sack with 1:46 remaining, Dantonio elected to punt the football back to Penn State, trusting his defense to get one more stop and get the ball back again.

“He made the call, and when he made it we told him we got his back and we were going to come out and continue to play good defense,” Willis said. “Chances make champions and we were able to come out with the win.”

After that stop, the Spartans drove down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown with 19 seconds remaining, a 25-yard pass from Lewerke to Felton Davis.