Iowa falls to Michigan State in final minutes of Big 10 Championship

The great thing about the Big Ten championship game between number 5, Michigan State, and Iowa, the number 4 team in the rankings, is that there are no questions about what happens next: The victor gets into the college football playoff. Michigan State was 11-1, with wins over Oregon, Ohio State and Michigan on its resume.

The Bears were in line to be the Big 12’s representative in the Sugar Bowl against an SEC team, with the expectation that league champ Oklahoma (11-1) will get into the College Football Playoff.

“We’re marching, we’re marching”, coach Mark Dantonio said on the field after the game.

Cook, the game’s MVP, methodically moved the Spartans in a drive that consumed almost the final 9 1/2 minutes.

“It’s special to have this opportunity to be Big Ten champions”, defensive end Shilique Calhoun said after Saturday night’s win. Shilique Calhoun had a monster game with two sacks, six tackles and one of three MSU forced fumbles. They did it in 22 plays that took 9:04 in clock time and approximately three days in real time. Iowa’s defense stiffened inside the 10 and held the Spartans to a field goal attempt. I think the Rose Bowl would love to take Ohio State in this situation, but they would also gladly take Michigan State as well. After Iowa kicked off the fourth quarter with an 85-yard touchdown pass, it looked like that might be enough to keep the Spartans down. A key was the difference in rushing yards.

Iowa (12-0) understands what’s at stake.

Corso has picked Iowa twice and lost both times, and is 1-1 when picking against Iowa.

“I just can’t imagine whoever wins this ball game not being in the playoffs, ” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We can play it out”. After a short run, Michigan State whistled for a false start.

“That was on as seniors to say hey man, we want to do more than any team has ever done, so we can get to somewhere we’ve never been”. “Tonight, it was that close”.

“I think what we showed the country on Saturday is what people have been waiting to see all year and that’s one of the best teams in the country”, Bosa said.

On fourth and two, Cook kept the ball to gained the first down. The Hawkeyes had a fourth-and-two at the Michigan State 47, then got called for a delay of game and punted. “You’ve gone all season long and haven’t experienced what it’s like to lose a game”.

NO. 7 STANFORD 41, NO. 24 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 22: Christian McCaffrey ran for 207 yards and a score, threw a touchdown pass, caught another and broke Barry Sanders’ single-season all-purpose yards record to make his Heisman Trophy case and lead Stanford to the Pac-12 championship.

In a second-and-20 situation from the 15-yard line, Beathard covered 58 yards on a pass over the middle of the field to hit a sprinting Smith in stride for touchdown.

An Iowa win means a 13-0 regular season, but to accomplish the feat they will have to take down the Spartans, who head into the Big ten Championship game for the third time in five years.

Michigan State struck first in the second half, getting a 29-yard field goal from Geiger to tie the score at 6 with 4:23 to play in the third quarter. At intermission, Iowa had gained 152 total yards to Michigan State’s 142.

This is the sixth time Iowa has been involved in a GameDay location, but the first since September 26, 2009, when the Hawkeyes upset Penn State. The last 12 plays all gained seven yards or less.