Michigan State’s Watts-Jackson has hip surgery after scoring

“The Spartans prevailed”, defensive end Shilique Calhoun said.

Jackson picks up a convoy and somehow lands just over the line. “That’s exactly what it boils down to”.

The Sooners took a 35-0 lead into halftime and just kept rolling in the second half.

“That’s what we pride ourselves on”. On the other hand, that game was tied and appeared headed to overtime. The 23-21 score it appeared the Wolverines would win by actually seemed deceivingly high. The victory looked in doubt when the Trojans (3-3) scored three straight touchdowns to take a 31-24 lead.

The Wolverines were seconds away from sealing the win after forcing the Spartans to turn the ball over following a failed fourth-down attempt with 1:47 left at its 45.

On fourth down, Harbaugh sent in his rugby-style kicker and Dantonio countered with an 11-man, all-out, punt-block scheme, with no one back to receive the punt. It’s not entirely his fault that this play even had to happen, because the Michigan offense couldn’t come up with a key first down late in the 4th quarter when they needed it most. But O’Neill couldn’t handle the snap and dropped the ball.

Watts-Jackson’s night also didn’t end well. It became an all-or-nothing situation because time had expired during the return.

His jubilant team-mates dived on him in the end zone and, in the process, dislocated his hip and he left the field on a medical cart. He thought, for a moment, that maybe Watts-Jackson would go down with a second remaining to set up a field goal.

The Spartans used their last timeout after the next snap.

“Football is a insane, crazy game”, Dantonio said.

O’Neill had punted for 80 yards earlier in the game but things ended badly for him and Watts-Jackson. “Every now and then, they happen”.

Conklin was solid as it wasn’t his fault is team couldn’t run on the nation’s best defense.

But is there something more at play for Michigan State, a program that is 30-3 since the start of 2013 with all kinds of close games and insane comebacks? The Rose Bowl was fine and dandy, but it wasn’t anything spectacular like this. “I would like to say it’s unfortunate but I just can’t”. “We’re all very grateful and humbled”.

No. 1 Ohio State 38, Penn State 10: J.T. Barrett played finisher for the Buckeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten), running for two touchdowns in the first half and then taking over full-time for Cardale Jones in the third quarter.

Like the rest of us, Jamal Spencer believed Michigan had the game in the bag.

In a wild finish, right up there with Auburn’s Iron Bowl Kick-Six or any Hail Mary, the seventh-ranked Spartans beat No. 12 Michigan 27-23 on a fumble return touchdown on the last play of the game. In 1994, Westbrook caught a deflection for a 64-yard touchdown on the final play to give Colorado a 27-26 win over Michigan.

Consequently, the Watts-Jackson play can’t be dismissed as a fluke even if it left Dantonio stupefied. He adds that the “program I know at Michigan” is “about the team, the team the team”.

And at the end, it was simply college football. He was asked how he pushes past such a loss, responding with “That resolve is steel in their spine-we’ve got to move forward, that’s how”. But I do know this: “This team plays extremely hard and has a lot of guts”.