The ball was on Michigan State’s 18-yard line.
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Alabama locked up another trip to the College Football Playoff.
L.J. Scott’s late lunge did more than put the ball across the goal line – it all but certainly put No. 5 Michigan State in the College Football Playoff.
Forget about the chips on the shoulders; they have been knocked to the ground and stomped into dust. USC charged to the lead over the first 10 minutes of the second half thanks to a Cody Kessler touchdown pass to Jahleel Penner and a 27-yard Ronald Jones run. It’s kind of symbolic with the amount of injuries we’ve had all year long and on that drive all those guys do get hurt and come back in. But on the first play, Beathard changed the game – dropping back from his 15 and launching a bomb toward Tevaun Smith.
Coach Kirk Ferentz used Iowa’s three timeouts during the drive, but the Hawkeyes still didn’t have enough time to muster a final comeback. Junior JT Stenglein also sits atop the Spartans leaderboard with the same statistics as MacEachern.Denzel Valentine dominated when No. 3 Michigan State needed its senior star to deliver. He was MVP of the 2013 Big Ten title game and was the steady hand in the team’s 20-point comeback in last year’s Cotton Bowl.
Mostly, though, they will know how LJ Scott, on his 22nd carry of the night, headed right on third down from the 1-yard line with 33 seconds left against a game Iowa defense that had just made two stops. Iowa was clinging to the No. 4 spot and Michigan State was just behind at No. 5, but it’s likely that only one team will be able to make the final bracket. One play after that, the Spartans sealed their first narrow escape of the season as Adams’ attempt on 4th-and-16 fell incomplete. We know we’re going to be facing a good defensive line this week and we need to be on top of our game.
Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama: The baddest back the college game has seen in some time did what only he does – 44 tougher-than-tough carries, 189 yards and a touchdown against a premier defense. Scott picked up a few more inches before finally reaching the ball across the plane scoring with 27 seconds left. Still, the Spartans were forced to settle for a Michael Geiger field goal, giving them a 3-0 lead in a win for the Hawkeyes, who allowed just three points off the turnover. “No matter who you are, you’re going to have to face the consequences if it’s a team violation”. MSU is 5-2 in the previous seven games.
“We’re two programs that like to play physical football”, Iowa offensive lineman Austin Blythe said (via ESPN). “I got to root for my neighbor Iowa”, said one Nebraska fan, who was joined by others wearing red hats with the notorious letter “N” centered above the bill. The Trojans (8-5) charged back from an early double-digit hole to take a 16-13 lead in the third quarter, but from there it was all Stanford (11-2) in what had to be the Cardinal’s best performance of the season.
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NO. 7 STANFORD 41, NO. 24 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 22: Christian McCaffrey ran for 207 yards and a score, threw a touchdown pass, caught another and broke Barry Sanders’ single-season all-purpose yards record to make his Heisman Trophy case and lead Stanford to the Pac-12 championship.
