Michigan v. Michigan State Football: The Greatest Games

2009 – “Breaks a tackle… to the house! Touchdown!”

#22 Michigan was 4-0, including a win over #18 Notre Dame, when they came into Spartan Stadium in the first week of October. The Spartans, on the other hand, were 1-3 after losses to Central Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Michigan State scored the first touchdown of the game, Larry Caper scoring on a one-yard run on fourth and goal to give Michigan State a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter. The teams traded field goals, punts and turnovers for the next two quarters until Glenn Winston broke it open for the Spartans, scoring on a 15-yard run to put Michigan State ahead 20-6 early in the fourth quarter, but Michigan would not go away. Tate Forcier found Darryl Stonum for a 61-yard touchdown to close the gap with 4:03 left in the fourth, and after the Wolverines defense forced a three-and-out, Forcier led Michigan 92 yards in 13 plays in the dying moments of regulation in a driving rainstorm, finding Roy Roundtree for the nine-yard tying touchdown with two seconds remaining.

Unfortunately for Michigan, Forcier did not have any magic left for overtime, throwing an interception to Chris L. Rucker on the Wolverines’ possession. Michigan State made the most of their chance as Caper broke free from a defender and scampered for a 23-yard touchdown to win the game for the Spartans, 26-20.

The Spartans won their next two games, but ended up only 6-6 and lost 41-31 in the Alamo Bowl to Texas Tech. Michigan’s season went off the rails after the loss, as they lost six of their next seven, including each of their remaining conference games. They finished 5-7 and were not invited to a bowl game.