http://youtube.com/watch?v=BQeMyQeobwU
I’ve said it many times before, but this is why college football is the best.
Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins went all Doug Flutie on Wisconsin, so that means Keith Nichol did his best Gerard Phelan. The big difference was the Spartans had to wait for the play to be reviewed before they could celebrate the 37-31 thrilling win at Spartan Stadium Saturday night.
It was fun to watch this one on TV, but it had to be absolute madness to be in the stadium.
Hell, Cousins spent about 30 minutes after the game jumping in the stands celebrating with fans and hugging anything that got near him.
If Nichol doesn’t have a girlfriend, well, we all know he had his pick of the litter after this game. Everyone loves a hero.
Before the Hail Mary win, Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson led the Badgers on a nice fourth-quarter comeback from 14 down. With one Cousins pass, though, Wilson’s Heisman moment was deflated. Wilson played well, but Cousins was better.
It should also be noted that Wisconsin never panicked or strayed from its game plan, even when it fell behind. For that, Bret Bielema should be given a lot of credit.
After the game, though, he looked like a guy who was ready to cry. Maybe he was thinking about those timeouts he took in hopes of getting the ball back. If he hadn’t done that the game would have likely gone to overtime.
Just like a night earlier when the Big East imploded with West Virginia’s loss at Syracuse, the Big Ten’s slim shot at playing for a BCS Championship have all but evaporated.
What we need to stop doing is overthinking every win and loss.
It’s tough to go undefeated. Wisconsin isn’t a bad team now. The Badgers just ran into a tough Michigan State squad.
Still, let’s not forget this is the same Michigan State that was dominated by Notre Dame. That’s right, an Irish team that is now 4-3 after losing to USC.
So Michigan State has figured it out now. Mark Dantonio’s team has now taken down Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks.
The Spartans’ victory also created a few oddities in the Big Ten. Consider this:
Penn State is the only team to not lose a Big Ten game yet.
If Ohio State, which has no offense to speak of, could figure out a way to win out the Buckeyes would play in the inaugural Big Ten championship game.
There’s also a good chance Michigan State and Wisconsin could play again in the conference championship game.
If only it could match the intensity of the first meeting.
