His most memorable play came late in the fourth quarter, with Michigan State trailing by four points facing a fourth-and-two in the red zone.
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It appeared heading into the weekend the victor of the Michigan State-Iowa Big Ten Championship game would be assured a spot in the playoff, and that held true as the Spartans jumped from No. 5 in last week’s rankings to No. 3, jumping then-No. A half-dozen Iowa defenders tried to stop Scott and pushed him backward, but he wouldn’t be denied. The only real debate was the order.
Beathard had given Iowa (12-1, No. 4 CFP) a 13-9 lead with a brilliant 85-yard touchdown pass to Tevaun Smith on the first play of the fourth quarter for the game’s first touchdown.
Jack Allen joins our interview with Mark Dantonio to heap praise on his coach. On the play, Cook rolled to the left on an option before lowering his shoulder and plunging for the line-to-gain.
He finished 16 of 32 with 191 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.
Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida State and North Carolina round out the top 10.
Oklahoma will be in the Orange for the 19th time, the most of any school. Dantonio is the first coach in Big Ten history to record five 11-win seasons in a six-year span. His five 11-win seasons rank second most in Big Ten history, along with Joe Paterno (five with Penn State as Big Ten member).
A lot of people were mad at Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook on Saturday night.
As for the Spartans, back-to-back national top-5 finishes in the AP poll weren’t enough.
For all of the talk about the league’s two best quarterbacks going head-to-head and the proficient offenses, this game had a decidedly old-school flavor.
Scott ran 22 times for 73 yards against a stingy defence that stopped Michigan State on four consecutive snaps inside the Iowa 5 in the final two minutes.
That’s how it stayed until Scott’s score. Michigan State played a great game.
But the Spartans forced the Hawkeyes to settle for only three field goals before putting together that last-ditch drive.
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The Hawkeyes took a 6-3 halftime lead on Marshall Koehn’s 43-yard field goal with 13:28 remaining, capping a nine-play, 42-yard drive that included a crucial 15-yard hands-to-the-face penalty that advanced the ball to the Michigan State 26.
