It was a nail-biter until the end. Actually, the end was a nail-biter too. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame came into Spartan Stadium looking to reconcile what happened the week before in Ann Arbor, walking away with their tails between their legs if you will. I mean, it doesn’t get much worse than losing to the Michigan Wolverines.
But the Irish would never get their revenge in the state of Michigan when the Spartans used a trick play on a last minute field goal to dupe the Irish and win 34-31 in overtime.
The defenses for both teams looked pretty stellar from kick off, taking half of the first quarter to get points on the board. Notre Dame was the first to make it into the end zone on a pass to wide receiver Michael Floyd. Scoring went pretty much back and forth for the rest of the game. Michigan State evened it up at seven apiece on a Kirk Cousins pass to junior wide receiver Keshawn Martin and they would go into halftime tied up.
After the half the Spartans and Irish would exchange three more touchdowns. Edwin Baker rushed 56 yards for a score, then Notre Dame answered not much later. This flip flop would go up until the last tick of regulation and both teams got ready for overtime.
The Spartans won the coin toss and opted to play defense. Notre Dame ended up in field goal range and kicker David Ruffer sent the ball 33 yards through the goal posts to put the Irish ahead 31-28. It looked eerily similar to last year’s game against Notre Dame and MSU wasn’t in a hurry to repeat the outcome.
Since Michigan State opted the play defense first, they knew what they had to do; a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win. The Spartans were able to march their way into field goal range and kicker Dan Conroy lined up for a 46-yarder. But “Little Giants” had tricks up their sleeve and head coach Mark Dantonio signaled for the play so appropriately titled.
Holder Aaron Bates caught the snap for Conroy’s kick, but instead of holding it Bates picked it up and passed it 29 yards to a wide open Charlie Gantt for the winning touchdown. Michigan State is now 3-0 on the season and keeping the momentum going.
“Little Giants” were pretty big this time around.
Michigan State finished with 477 total yards of offense and only one turnover. The Spartans out-rushed the Irish 203-92 and controlled the ball for almost nine minutes more than Notre Dame. Kirk Cousins went 23-33 through the air for 245 yards. True freshman running back Le’Veon Bell ran for 114 yards on 17 carries and sophomore Edwin Baker ran for 90 yards on 14 carries.
Junior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham also contributed for Michigan State with 107 yards and a touchdown. Keshawn Martin finished with 96 yards and a touchdown.
Next Sunday Michigan State will host Northern Colorado at Spartan Stadium. Hopefully they won’t be the victim of a Little Giants-like trick.
The LG Blog 