Michigan State Football: Report card for win against Ohio State

Nov 21, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterbacks Tyler O

That was the definition of a program win. Mark Dantonio and the Michigan State football team went into Columbus and defeated the undefeated defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. They did this with no one believing in them and with their three-year starter, who has a career record of 32-4, on the bench due to injury.

The Spartans did the unthinkable and played the best game of the year on defense and did just enough on offense to come away victorious and vault themselves back into the driver’s seat to make the Big Ten Championship game and the chance to play in the College Football Playoff.

Let’s dive into grading the Spartans, I could honestly end this quickly by simply stating, ‘Everyone gets an A,’ because that is precisely what they deserve. But we owe you more than that so lets look at a breakdown of the position groups.

Quarterback: B

Nov 21, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Tyler O

When it was made clear that Connor Cook would not be playing everyone in Spartan Nation’s heart dropped. Little chance was given to win without Cook playing. Despite the doubt and everything against them the duo of Tyler O’Connor and Damion Terry shocked everyone and led the team to the victory.

While it was anything from a prolific offense each quarterback made the necessary plays when needed. O’Connor got the majority of the snaps with Terry sprinkled in to keep Ohio State honest.

Terry made the lone offensive turnover when he fumbled on a sack but did come through with several read option runs to set the Spartans up early on in downs. Terry finished the day with two passing yards and 25 rushing yards.

O’Connor was the player that people will remember from this game. He came up with a huge third down pass to Aaron Burbridge to keep the Spartans first touchdown scoring drive alive and he had two brilliant runs on read options to keep MSU’s second scoring touchdown drive going.

Tyler finished the day with 25 rushing yards and went 7-for-12 passing for 84 yards, including a fantastic throw to Trevon Pendleton for a touchdown.

This will not be a game that coaches will use to show how you play quarterback, but O’Connor and Terry did the unthinkable: went on the road, in terrible weather, as heavy underdogs and got the W.

This win will go down in Spartan lore and they each have their place in history.

Next: Running Backs