MSU's Hail Mary Answered

Oct. 23, 2011

By Steve Grinczel, Online Columnist

"Luck is the residue of design." - Baseball executive Branch Rickey.

"The harder I work, the luckier I get." - Movie producer Samuel Goldwyn.

"We were just so fortunate to have the ball go our way like that. I really felt like I wasn't going to be denied on that. You train for moments like that." - Michigan State football Hail Mary maven Keith Nichol.

The play was the crowning achievement of perhaps the most unlikely series of events ever to unfold in 115 years of Michigan State football games and pushed the Spartans to a 37-31 victory over fourth-ranked Wisconsin on Saturday night.

The "rocket play" worked pretty much the way the coaching staff drew it up.

With four seconds left in regulation and facing third-and-1 on the Badgers 44-yard line, Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins dropped back to pass while all his receivers ran deep. Running back Le'Veon Bell gave him a little extra time by blocking the defensive end.

Once Cousins launched the ball toward the right side of the end zone, it was just a matter of having it go through the outstretched hands of 6-foot-2 Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis, who's deployed as a defensive back in such situations, bounce off MSU wideout B.J. Cunningham's facemask and carom into the waiting hands of Nichol, who had just enough forward momentum to break the plane of the goal line.

Except, the official closest to the play on the goal line didn't signal touchdown, and if the Big Ten hadn't instituted instant-replay review a few years ago, the game would have gone into overtime.

However, after a silent vigil was observed for several minutes by the 76,405 in attendance, referee Dennis Lipski removed his headset, turned on his microphone, said something about further review and raised his arms to signal touchdown and create what can only be described as a sonic boom.

"It erupted," Cunningham said. "It was crazy. It was like the energy we were feeling the whole game, and it all came back. I was right next to Keith, and as soon as I saw the referee put his arms up, I just jumped on his back. For him to have the game-winner was just great."

It was Nichol's only catch of the game, just his 12th of the season and merely the 36th of his career since agreeing to give up his dream of playing quarterback and accepting the role of wide receiver at the end of the 2009 season.

"I swear I thought I got the ball across, and (the Badgers) did a great job of trying to shove me back and telling the refs I didn't get in," Nichol said of his second touchdown reception as a Spartan. "I knew once they went to review it, it was going to be a touchdown.

"It was an incredible moment, really. I'm glad it came down to that moment and I was able to capitalize."

It was safe to say, in the understatement of the night, that it was the biggest play of Nichol's football life.

And, the latest chapter in the Nichol odyssey that started at the end of his highly successful prep career at Lowell High School, took a U-turn away from MSU for a chance to play at Oklahoma and a decision to transfer to Michigan State where he fell just short in his bid to out-duel Cousins for quarterback responsibilities.

"It's crazy how it came down to one play and that's probably the way the game will be remembered, but it was just and incredible team effort," Nichol said.

After the Spartans fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, they got on the scoreboard with a safety when Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson was hurried into an intentional grounding penalty from the end zone.

Michigan State went on a 31-3 run that was helped along by wideout Keshawn Martin's 34-yard touchdown run off a double reverse, Spartans defensive back Darqueze Dennard's blocked field goal, a 35-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Cunningham on fourth-and-2 and back-up linebacker Kyler Elsworth's blocked punt and Bennie Fowler's recovering in the end zone for a touchdown just before the end of the first half.

By the way, the MSU team that had 13 penalties, including five personal fouls a week earlier in the win over Michigan, had zero penalties for zero yards.

Still, it came down to a play the Spartans work on every Thursday in practice.

"Obviously, there's a little luck there that plays into it, but we executed and kept believing," Cousins said. "I don't think you could write a better story. (Nichol) works so hard, and he's so selfless, and it's never been about him.

"For him to be the guy who caught that pass to win the game, is very, very special. He used all that strength he has to power his way into the end zone. He's a special player and deserves all the success he gets. I hope there's more coming."

Most will say the Spartans were lucky, and they would be the first to agree. Before the game, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio predicted a "perfect storm" of opportunities seized and penalties avoided.

"It means we have a program," Dantonio said. "(But) you're never finished. There is always something more that you can improve on and that's what we do. But we've won 17 of our last 20 games, so we're coming.

"We're going to keep competing, and good things will happen for us. We talk about you don't know when it's going to be your time to make a play. You have to play every single play, and you have to believe you're going to be the guy who makes the play because you don't know when you're going to have that opportunity.

"It really, really showed tonight."

As another wise person once said, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."