Ask Lewerke, and he will say that he considered the time left in the game and slowed up to give the Spartans a chance to win at the buzzer.

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio may believe something else.

“I thought he was tackled, but we’ll go with what he’s saying,” Dantonio said with a smile.

Regardless of the whys or hows of Lewerke's take down, Dantonio ultimately agreed with the outcome.

He wanted to give junior kicker Matt Coghlin a chance to win the game rather than put the Spartan defense — which was getting gashed by IU quarterback Michael Penix Jr. — back on the field.

“Just felt like we didn’t want to give them any time on the clock the way that they had been throwing the ball down the field and things had been happening," Dantonio said. "Should be able to make the kick, execution, I have complete faith in our snapper and our holder and in him. I felt that was probably like a 98% chance deal. If we had scored a touchdown we would have lined up and played defense but, as it was, I felt that was the thing to do.”

After a couple of kneel-downs, Coghlin split the uprights on a 21-yard field goal to give the Spartans a 34-31 lead with 5 seconds remaining.

“Big kick by Matt Coghlin at the end of the game, two big kicks by him," Dantonio said.

Of course, Michigan State went on to win 40-31 and improve to 2-0 in conference.  

Over Michigan State's last three games Coghlin, a redshirt junior out of Cincinnati, has had his fair share of struggles after starting the season 7-for-7 on field goal attempts.

He missed three field goals, including one to send the game into overtime, in MSU's 10-7 loss to Arizona State. Then, he missed his first kick last Saturday at Northwestern before making up for it by converting a 26-yard attempt in the second half.

On Michigan State's first offensive possession, the Spartans moved the ball into Hoosier territory before it died out just before the red zone. But, Coghlin missed a 44-yard field goal and the game remained scoreless.

Then, when the Spartans had a chance to take a double-digit lead with three minutes left, the drive stalled again. But this time, Coghlin converted from 43 yards away and gave himself a huge confidence boost.

Through his recent struggles, Dantonio and many players on the MSU football have said they've never lost confidence in Coghlin. That made the decision to put the outcome of Saturday's game on his foot a little bit easier to stomach.

So, regardless if Lewerke planned to go down or was chased by an IU defender, when No. 4 trotted on to the field to give the Spartans a lead in the waning seconds, confidence, from everyone, didn't waver.

“Matt is a levelheaded guy, he really is," senior linebacker Joe Bachie said. "We’re all confident in him. He knocked that one through and we had a ton of confidence at the end of the game, just a little chip-shot. So, it was great for him to see those two go in.”