Spartans’ dominant touchdown drive sends Iowa to first loss

Michigan State earned its second conference title in three years and will chase its first national championship since splitting the title with Notre Dame in 1966. Michigan State handed Iowa its first loss in the Big Ten title game to move into the playoffs, while Oklahoma had already completed its season and held on for the final playoff spot.

Kevin Hogan caught the TD pass from McCaffrey, threw one and ran for a third and Solomon Thomas scored on a 34-yard fumble return for Stanford, who likely will play in the Rose Bowl semifinal of the College Football Playoff.

No matter how many times he got hit, the freshman kept powering forward.

L.J. Scott’s 1-yard touchdown plunge with 27 seconds remaining Saturday night lifted No. 5 Michigan State to a 16-13 victory over No. 4 Iowa in the Big Ten championship game. Michigan State hasn’t had a drive that long all season, though Allen said he remembered one in preseason camp.

“We just know how to finish”, said senior linebacker Darien Harris.

In all, it took six seconds for the 233-pound running back to travel that final, season-saving yard. It had a chance to win the game in the end, and like it has 12 times in 13 games this season, it did just that.

The Hawkeyes did not have a single snap on Michigan State’s side of the field in the second half and managed just two first downs in the half.

While the Spartans’ win over the Wolverines was certainly unique, their most unlikely triumph came in a November 21 clash in Columbus with defending national champion Ohio State.

San Diego State 27, Air Force 24 – Donny Hageman kicked a 46-yard field goal with 5:10 to go in San Diego, giving the Aztecs (10-3) the Mountain West Conference championship, their first outright league title since 1986. Just looking back on it, the offense gives us a 22 play drive in nine minutes.

Michigan State heads into the postseason with lots of confidence after winning four straight, with two coming against top 10 teams.

B – The effort that both teams put into those final 5 yards could’ve built a pyramid.

“I think we’ve proven you can’t count us out of any game”, offensive tackle Jack Conklin said. “We just go into every game telling ourselves that nobody is built like we are”. “We were confident right up to the last play we were going to make a stop down there, I think everybody on our team was”.

The teams had combined for five field goals through 45 minutes of football in a match a match-up that typified the knockdown, drag-out defensive battles the Hawkeyes and Spartans have found themselves in multiple times in recent seaaons.

“It’s tough. You’ve gone all season long and haven’t experienced what it’s like to lose a game”, Beathard said. “You’ve gone all season long and haven’t experienced what it’s like to lose a game”.

The starting times for the college football playoff games are set, according to ESPN. It’s that close. It’s how close the game was. Iowa appeared headed for the College Football Playoff after scoring the first touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter, with a clearly injured Cook unable to move the ball on a consistent basis throughout the night.

The Spartans also recovered from an Iowa flurry late in the third quarter that was highlighted by a 85 yard pass from quarterback C.J.Beathard to wide receiver Tevaun Smith. Michigan State and Iowa combined for four turnovers, three of which came in the first half.

After three Hawkeyes impeded Scott’s progress from the 1-yard-line, he committed the cardinal sin of ball-carriers and reached the ball over the goal line.