Roses are red: Wisconsin hangs on vs. Michigan State

INDIANAPOLIS - And you thought a Hail Mary pass was a painful way to lose a football game.

Wisconsin and Michigan State made one incredible play after another Saturday night, walloping each other's highly regarded defenses time after time with offensive execution so spectacular, it's normally seen only on an Xbox. But in a Big Ten championship game featuring 11 touchdowns, 816 total yards and a season's worth of highlights -- and ultimately, Wisconsin's thrilling 42-39 victory -- the play that will be remembered the longest was a dumb penalty, a mistake of exuberance by a hometown hero.

Indianapolis native Isaiah Lewis, an All-Big Ten safety at Michigan State, collided with Badgers punter Brad Nortman with less than two minutes remaining in the game, negating a long punt return that would have put the Spartans on the doorstep of a championship. Instead, Wisconsin ran out the clock, collected the shiny new Stagg Trophy as Big Ten champions, and celebrated their second consecutive trip to Pasadena.

"It was my call. I said, Let's go for the block,'" said Spartans coach Mark Dantonio. "I don't know if he hit [Nortman], but they threw the flag. If he hit him, he just nicked him."

The 5-yard penalty gave Wisconsin a first down and the ability to run out the final two minutes, and negated a 64-yard punt return by Keshawn Martin that would have given the Spartans the ball on the Badgers 3.

Wisconsin was the team with the freight-train reputation, but Michigan State's offense was the more dominating one for much of the night. Michigan State ran an astonishing 20 different plays that gained 10 yards or more.

"We felt we had our way offensively all day long," quarterback Kirk Cousins said.

Wisconsin's offense came out as though intent upon scoring 100, marching down the field for easy touchdowns on its first three possessions, two of them by tailback Montee Ball, who had 100 yards in the game's first 12 minutes. But Michigan State's defense, ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten, stiffened for a quarter, forcing four consecutive punts and allowing the Spartans to rally for the lead.

That set up a back-and-forth second half that included one amazing play after another.

"The kids never stopped wavering in their faith. They came out tonight and weren't going to be denied," said Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema. "At halftime, we talked about getting back to Wisconsin football."

They did. Ball burnished his Heisman candidacy with 137 yards and four touchdowns, the last of them on a 7-yard romp with 3:45 to play that gave the Badgers the lead for good.

Russell Wilson was named the game's MVP for throwing three touchdowns, and picking up 187 yards. But there were big plays turned in by seemingly everyone.

On the first play of the second quarter, for instance, Michigan State faced a fourth-and-1 at Wisconsin's 30. Rather than try a long field goal, the Spartans appeared ready to try to pick up the yard. But Cousins faked a pitch to tailback Edwin Baker, then spun around and found receiver B.J. Cunningham streaking by himself toward the end zone for an easy touchdown.

Cunningham was involved in another smart play on the Spartans' next drive, too. With the ball on Wisconsin's 10, Cousins hit receiver Keith Nichol with a quick screen pass, but Nichol was quickly corralled by a pair of tacklers next to the sideline at the 7. Cunningham circled behind him, however, and when his defender joined in on the tackle, Nichol lateraled the ball into his arms. Cunningham dived for the end zone, taking the ball the final 7 yards for Michigan State's game-tying touchdown.

Wait, that's not right: It wasn't game-tying. Riding the momentum of the moment, kick-holder Brad Sonntag took the point-after snap and raced around the right side of the line for a two-point conversion that gave Michigan State its first lead of the night, 22-21.

But ultimately, the game came down to not a big play, but a big mistake.

"There was no one play that lost this football game," Cousins said. "We don't need to rally around Isaiah. He did nothing wrong. He was playing his butt off."