Michigan State Football: 10 most memorable plays of Mark Dantonio era

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8. ‘Mouse Trap’ versus Northwestern

I remember being at this game and thinking ‘well, there’s always next year.’ It was that kind of thinking that got into the heads of Spartan fans far too much in the pre-Dantonio days when John L. Smith roamed the sidelines, slapping his face and muttering sweet nothings to himself.

All that time spent watching the Spartans from 2001-2007 really wore on people and when Michigan State was down 10 in the fourth quarter to an inferior Northwestern team on the road, it seemed like the glory days of Big Ten titles and national contentions were still so very far away.

The score was 24-14 Northwestern with about 14 minutes left to play in the game and the Michigan State offense just could not get anything going against Pat Fitzgerald’s tough defense. However, Dantonio had been known to pull rabbits out of his hat before this contest, and the Wildcats’ head coach knew it.

Telling his players to watch for a fake when the Spartans lined up to punt the ball at the NW 36-yard-line and down by 10. It seemed as if Dantonio was on the verge of putting the fate of the game on his defense when he let punter Aaron Bates, a former high school quarterback, pull the unthinkable.

Bates threw a duck, actually, to wide out Bennie Fowler for a tricky first down and the Kirk Cousins ended up throwing a touchdown to Mark Dell on the next play. Michigan State ended up winning the game, and the momentum gained from this unreal fake had everything to do with that.

Next: 7. Caper walk-off TD against Michigan