Dantonio Reflects on Dramatic Cotton Bowl Comeback
1/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
If last year was about reaching the mountaintop, this season was about staying there.
The Spartans began the 2014 calendar year with confetti dropping down upon them on the immaculate Rose Bowl turf following a dramatic victory over No. 5 Stanford in the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl Game.
But the message was clear from head coach Mark Dantonio in his first press conference previewing the encore season to last year's record-breaking crew that won 13 games and finished No. 3 in the national polls.
"What we've tried to talk about, really, is how do we handle success now," he remarked at Big Ten Kickoff in Chicago in late July. "We've had success. We've gotten to a point where we've done some special things. What's on our agenda next: how do we handle that success? That's really going to be one of the biggest things we'll have to deal with this year."
Mission accomplished.
With another confetti shower opening the New Year in 2015 - this time after the biggest bowl comeback win in school history that saw Michigan State claw back from 20 points down to a triumphant 42-41 victory over No. 5 Baylor in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic - the Spartans have proven once again they belong among the elite college football programs in the nation.
Michigan State is the only school to win a Bowl Championship Series game during the 2013 season and a New Year's Six bowl game this season, and will assuredly be one of four teams, along with Alabama, Florida State and Oregon, to finish in The Associated Press Top 10 for a second consecutive year, a first for the program since 1965-66.
The 11-win season - MSU's fourth of at least 11 wins in the last five years - was further validation of the program's staying power.
"I think we've developed continuity here, not just in what we're doing, but in how we're doing it and in terms of productivity, in terms of wins," Dantonio said Monday on a season wrap-up teleconference. "We've won 24 games and lost three (the past two seasons), and two of them are two of the people that are playing in the championship game (Ohio State, Oregon), and one of them was to Notre Dame the year before that was coming off the championship game. So I think we can be in the national conversation.
"I think we're a football team that can and will play up. I think we're looking at inches in terms of how far away are we from being in the game that everybody's anticipating (Ohio State vs. Oregon).
"Everything's going sort of according to plan. We're getting better. We're not fading away, we're getting better as we move forward."
In a season filled with endless noise about the College Football Playoff, the Spartans stayed focused - even when their playoff dreams were dashed following a Nov. 8 loss to Ohio State - and plowed forward by closing out with a four-game winning streak and an 11-2 record, tying the second-most wins in a Spartan season.
"We've done a great job here of being able to remain resilient after a tough loss and be able to rebound and respond, and I think that's the key to coaching," said Dantonio. "That's why I'm so impressed with our coaching staff and our players and our team chemistry, because we've always been able to rally around things."
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Trailing by 20 points to Baylor in the fourth quarter, Michigan State was not about to back down from the Bears. Left tackle Jack Conklin and the offensive line kept battling to the very end.
That trademark Spartan resiliency was on full display New Year's Day for the whole country to see.
The origin of a comeback is like trying to find the spark that starts a wildfire. But once the blaze has begun, there's really no stopping its momentum. And everyone, everywhere, can feel the heat.
The intensity of Michigan State's comeback came to a zenith in the final minute and 16 seconds of the Cotton Bowl Classic after the Spartans had already cut a 20-point deficit to six points at 41-35.
With Baylor lining up for a 43-yard field goal - and essentially the win - a Spartan "Monster" came to life as fifth-year senior Marcus Rush, who has started more games than anyone in program history, broke through a line of Bears, stretched out both arms, and blocked the kick. RJ Williamson then scooped up the treasured pigskin and raced 36 yards down the Spartan sideline to the Baylor 45-yard line, triggering a Green and White frenzy in AT&T Stadium.
"He'll be right there with the hit on fourth down of the Rose Bowl," Dantonio remarked about Rush on the field-goal block that's referred to as "monster" in the Spartan playbook, comparing it to Kyler Elsworth's game-winning tackle against Stanford in the Rose Bowl.
"Monster" - Marcus Rush blocked Baylor's 44-yard field goal attempt with just over a minute remaining in the game, setting up MSU's game-winning touchdown drive.
From there, the record-setting offense - which finished ranked No. 1 in MSU single-season history for total offense, scoring average, points, touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, first downs and rushing yards - put the finishing touches on the masterpiece it had painted all season long.
Not that it was easy. After Connor Cook opened the drive, which began at the 1:05 mark, with an 18-yard completion to Keith Mumphery, three straight incompletions followed.
A promising series was now faced with a fourth-and-10 from the Baylor 27-yard line with 37 seconds remaining.
With the season on the line and AT&T Stadium turned into a jet hangar, Cook looked to his favorite target all season long - Big Ten Receiver of the Year Tony Lippett, who calmly hauled in a 17-yard catch to set up first-and-goal. The fifth-year senior from Detroit contributed in a variety of ways during the game, from starting at cornerback to blocking Baylor placekicker Chris Callahan on a bonecrushing hit that freed up Williamson on "monster."
"Every time I turned around, (Tony) was ready to go back in on defense," said Dantonio, as he estimated that Lippett played 80 snaps. "He made plays."
After Lippett's fourth-down catch, the Spartans were now only 7 yards away from the end zone. Thirty-three seconds lit up on the scoreboard.
But two more incompletions left MSU with third-and-goal and just 22 ticks on the clock.
The misfires on first and second down didn't affect Cook as he prepared for third down. He already had fought back from throwing two earlier interceptions in the red zone, and surely wasn't about to let two more incompletions get in his way.
On third down, he fired his 42nd pass of the game, right into the arms of Mumphery in the back of the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
Keith Mumphery hauls in the game-winning touchdown catch with 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, capping MSU's 20-point comeback win over No. 5 Baylor.
Make that three bowl games, three fourth-quarter comebacks for Cook, who once again displayed a remarkable sense of calm under pressure, just as he had shown off the bench in the desert in the 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl as MSU beat TCU, and just as he did while being named the Offensive MVP of the 2014 Rose Bowl Game.
The euphoria felt on the sideline following Mumphery's catch was raised even higher after Michael Geiger's extra point - his school-record 72nd of the season - sailed through the uprights to give MSU a 42-41 lead.
But there was one problem. The nation's No. 1 offense, which also led the FBS in touchdown drives under a minute, still had 17 seconds to work with. In Baylor's endless aerial onslaught, it was hardly too little time.
On the sideline after the touchback, eighth-year MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, coaching his last game for the Spartans after accepting the head job at Pittsburgh a week earlier, barked his marching orders one final time.
"We need a sack!" he shouted over the crowd. "Let's get a sack!"
In a game that featured the most combined points in Cotton Bowl history, it was up to the defense to provide one last stop against the top-ranked offense in the country. And the Spartan Dawgs unleashed.
First, it was Lawrence Thomas bulldozing through the middle past two blockers for a sack. Then, it was Riley Bullough and Marcus Rush's turn for a sack. On third down, Petty finally got rid of the ball - but threw it into the hands of Bullough for an interception. The comeback's last chapter was finished.
Once the most improbable of Michigan State's four straight bowl comeback wins - down 20 points entering the fourth quarter - was complete, there was a release of raw emotion from the Spartan sideline.
Dantonio threw his arms up in the air with a look of complete satisfaction but yet still a sense of bewilderment for what just transpired. As the team rushed the field, Dantonio found Narduzzi, and they embraced in a long, emotional hug.
Former Spartan defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi and MSU head coach Mark Dantonio share a moment after Michigan State's 42-41 comeback win in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
A wild celebration ensued on the turf of AT&T Stadium, and Dantonio and the players had a challenge almost equally as daunting as their recently completed comeback for the hundreds of cameras now in their faces - trying to explain what just happened.
"We have great chemistry on this football team and great senior leadership," Dantonio told ESPN immediately following the game. "We've been behind in our last three bowl games, even at half, every one of them we've been behind. We had a belief that we could come back...Just a great effort by our football team."
Just a few feet away, Cook was holding back tears of joy, still clutching the same football from the victory formation on the last play of the game, while conducting an interview with ESPN Radio.
After a short prayer at midfield, the team bounced and waved rally towels, then raced over to the Spartan section in the end zone and sang a rousing rendition of the MSU Fight Song with the thousands of Green and White fans in attendance.
Soon, the glistening Field Scovell Cotton Bowl Trophy was presented to Coach Dantonio, and got passed around the field to nearly the entire team. As it was being hoisted into the air over and over, the large silver trophy appeared to feel as weightless as the infinite amounts of confetti flying around AT&T Stadium.
Everywhere, Spartans were rejoicing.
There was fifth-year walk-on Connor Kruse, the regular starter at right guard who had to sit out his final collegiate game with an injury he suffered in practice earlier in the week, exchanging a hug with linemate Donavon Clark at midfield.
There was Jeremy Langford, one of the most consistent running backs in MSU history, with head strength and conditioning coach Ken Mannie, whose rigorous offseason workouts molded Langford into a symbol of perseverance and hard work.
There were linebackers Taiwan Jones and Darien Harris, who helped limit Baylor to minus-20 yards rushing, making "confetti" angels on the turf.
There was Lippett, jumping up on the shoulder pads of Shilique Calhoun during an interview with BTN, before reaching over the railing to hug his family.
There was the entire offensive line - arguably one of the best in school history - posing for a photo with their position coach, Mark Staten. And the wide receivers, which led the No. 1 passing offense in the Big Ten, with coach Terrence Samuel.
Yes, everywhere, Spartans were rejoicing.
Tony Lippett did it all for MSU in the Cotton Bowl Classic, leading the Spartans with five catches for 74 yards, including a key fourth-down grab on the game-winning drive, starting at cornerback against the nation's No. 1 offense, and delivering a critical block on special teams following MSU's blocked field goal in the fourth quarter.
The team and coaching staff finally made it back to the locker room, where Coach Dantonio had the first chance to address his players following the stirring victory.
"That's character," he said of the comeback. "Never lose that...You're history makers, and you will carry that with you the rest of your lives."
Among the game balls Dantonio gave out were to Lippett, Mumphery and Rush, all members of the senior class that tied the school record for most wins in a four-year span with 42.
He then played DJ.
"We're bringing back some old stuff," he proclaimed, and the 2013 anthem "Type of Way" soon blasted in the locker room, just like in Pasadena a year prior, as the team danced in yet another bowl celebration.
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After hanging out with his family over the weekend, it was back to work Monday for the Spartan head coach, who will enter his ninth season at MSU in 2015. Dantonio spent most of the day in his office and conducted nearly an hour teleconference to recap the season while also previewing the College Football National Championship Game between Ohio State and Oregon.
In the evening, he was greeted to a raucous standing ovation at halftime of the men's basketball victory over Indiana at the Breslin Center following video highlights from the Cotton Bowl Classic. After thanking the fans, Dantonio was already looking ahead to the possibilities of next season.
"2015 is going to be special," he told the crowd.
And with that, another offseason of conditioning will soon begin for the Spartans as they continue their pursuit of another Big Ten Championship.
Written by Ben Phlegar, MSU Athletic Communications. Photos by Matthew Mitchell and Rey Del Rio.
