Michigan State's four top firework moments from last season

East Lansing, Mich. – In the final installment of a series of articles celebrating Independence Day week, On3 asked publishers to list their four football moments from 2022 which produced the most fireworks.

Michigan State was short on positive football fireworks in 2022, so we subbed a basketball moment in for No. 4.

Our list:

1. Michigan State Beats No. 14 Illinois, 23-15

Illinois came into the game 7-1 and ranked No. 14 by the Associated Press. The Spartans traveled to Champaign after a tumultuous week stemming from the postgame altercation with Michigan players in the Michigan Stadium tunnel. 

Having been decimated by injuries and eight suspensions, Michigan State moved third string defensive tackles Dashaun Mallory and Jalen Hunt to defensive end and surprised Illinois’ with a jumbo front which stymied a terrific Illini ground attack. 

Jalen Berger led Michigan State with 81 yards rushing on 15 carries. 

The Spartans registered nine tackles for loss, with Cal Haladay posting 3.5 of them. Linebacker Aaron Brulé took on a bigger role in the playing group and posted five tackles and a sack as Michigan State deployed a 4-3 front.

Michigan State stopped Illinois five times on fourth down.

The Spartan defensive front staged a tone-setting goal line stand early in the game. The Spartans prevented Illinois from converting on a first-and-goal situation at the 3-yard line after QB Payton Thorne was intercepted during Michigan State’s opening possession, giving the Illini a short field. 

That marked Michigan State’s fourth fourth-and-goal stoppage of the season to that point. 

Michigan State took its first lead at 9-7 on Tre Mosley’s 1-yard touchdown catch, but kicker Ben Patton missed the extra point.

Michigan State’s poor place kicking situation would figure into an unorthodox decision by Spartan head coach Mel Tucker late in the game, leading to criticism about clock management, and overshadowing what had been an amazing piece of coaching to get the Spartans regrouped psychologically and structurally for this road upset of a Top 15 team after an array of problems at Michigan a week earlier.

Michigan State led Illinois 23-7 in the third quarter, but saw its lead reduced to 23-15 in the fourth.

With 1:14 remaining, and the Spartans up by 8 points, Michigan State faced third-and-goal from the 14-yard line. Illinois was out of time outs. The Spartans had two choices:

• Run the ball, bleed the clock and set up for a Patton field goal with about :30 second remaining. Or…
• Go for the TKO with a pass, possibly into the end zone, risking an interception or a clock stoppage with more than 1:10 remaining. 

Michigan State chose to throw short of the end zone, and saw the pass fall incomplete, stopping the clock.

Other factors:

• Michigan State’s long snapping situation had been atrocious a week earlier at Michigan, complicating thoughts of a field goal.
• Wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour made field goal kicking additionally difficult.

Tucker chose to be aggressive. He wanted to go for the win without relying on the kicking game, and gamble that those :39 seconds that he could have bled off the clock with a run play wouldn’t bite him.

On third-and-goal from the 14, Michigan State offensive coordinator Jay Johnson dialed up a pass play which seemed to surprise the Illinois defense. Tight end Daniel Barker was wide open on a corner route. If Thorne had seen Barker, and delivered an accurate pass, and Barker had caught it, the aggressive gambit would have seemed daring and brilliant.

Thorne said after the game he was assigned to read short-to-long on that play. He selected the underneath route to Elijah Collins. Thorne felt immediate pressure from a defensive tackle who came free on a stunt. Thorne said he never looked downfield to Barker, and frankly didn’t have time to. 

Thorne’s pass for Collins fell incomplete. The pass was thrown low, below Collins’ waist.

If Collins had caught it, it’s doubtful he would have been able to cover 10 yards after the catch for a touchdown. But if he had caught it, and stayed in bounds, those :39 seconds would have been bled from the clock like a running play. Instead, the incompletion stopped the clock. 

Patton missed a field goal on fourth down. Illinois had the ball with a minute left, and 80 yards away from a potential game-tying situation. But Michigan State’s defense held, and Illinois’ final drive ended on a third down stoppage as time expired.

There was a lot to unwrap and discuss following this game. Most importantly, the victory put Michigan State back in contention for a bowl bid, triggered a solid surge of three wins in four weeks, and proved that the team still had some vim.

The clock management decisions at the end of the game dominated discussion in the days that followed, but the real story was Tucker’s ability to rally a battered, injured and beleaguered team to an upset victory on the road against a Top 15 team.

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2. Michigan State Beats Wisconsin 34-28 In 2OT

Michigan State ended a four-game losing streak with an emotional double-overtime victory over the Badgers on Homecoming at Spartan Stadium. 

Thorne completed 21 of 28 passes for 265 yards with three TD passes. Jayden Reed had nine receptions for 117 yards, and threw a 25-yard TD to Keon Coleman in the first overtime. 

Berger rushed for 60 yards on 16 carries, including a 12-yard TD run.

Jacoby Windmon had an interception, forced a fumble and had 11 tackles. 

Maliq Carr’s 72-yard catch and run set up an Elijah Collins 1-yard TD run and a 14-14 tie late in the third quarter.

In the second overtime, Windmon forced a fumble on Wisconsin’s first play. 

Michigan State captured the game-winning points when Thorne connected with Reed on a 27-yard TD pass, lifting the Spartans to 3-4 and resurrecting hopes of salvaging the season.

3. Michigan State Beats Rutgers, 27-21

Michigan State capped a run of three victories in four weeks, improving to 5-5 on the year and creating expectations that the Spartans would capture a sixth win a week later against Indiana and earn a bowl bid.

A victory over Indiana never came, but this win over Rutgers seemed satisfying at the time, and came in an unlikely way.

Place kicker Ben Patton, who struggled throughout the season, hit two field goals in the fourth quarter to provide leads of 24-14 and 27-14, the latter of which came with 3:22 to play.

Thorne was 19 of 35 for 256 yards and Reed had 10 catches for 90 yards. Berger rushed for 85 yards on 16 carries. Former Spartan running back Jarek Broussard had 80 yards on 11 carries. 

Haladay had 19 tackles. 

After Rutgers closed to within 27-21, Mosley recovered an on-side kick with :47 seconds left.

4. Michigan State Advances To Sweet 16 With Win Over Marquette

Michigan State captured the 15th Sweet 16 of Tom Izzo’s career with a 69-60 victory over No. 2 seed Marquette in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on March 19 in Columbus, Ohio.

Tyson Walker scored 23 points, Joey Hauser added 14 with a double-double and AJ Hoggard had 13 points. Mady Sissoko had 10 rebounds to go with 8 points.

Leading 56-55, Michigan State went on a 10-0 run with 3:36 remaining. Walker scored 8 of the 10 points.

Michigan State led 18-5 in the early going, and took a 27-15 lead on a Carson Cooper alley-oop dunk from Malik Hall. 

Michigan State won despite shooting just 2-of-16 from 3-point range, the second-worst 3-point accuracy for the Spartans on the year. 

The Spartan defense, led by Hoggard, held Big East Player of the Year, Marquette point guard Tyler Kolek, to just 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting, and forced him into six turnovers. 

Michigan State held Marquette to 60 points, tied for its second lowest total of the season. Marquette shot just 38.5 percent from the field.

Connecticut went on to win the National Championship. The last team to beat UConn was Marquette, in the Big East Tournament.

Marquette was regarded as the top contender to win the National Championship from the Big East conference heading into the NCAA Tournament, but the Eagles had the misfortune of facing Izzo and Michigan State in the Second Round.