50 defining moments from the 2021 Michigan State football season: No. 25

Today is officially past the halfway point of this Michigan State football series. To celebrate, why not another highlight against the school down the road?

Welcome to the beginning of the final 25 defining moments of the 2021 Michigan State football season. This is the 26th edition of the series, and this moment comes against the Spartans’ archrivals, the Michigan Wolverines. Today highlights a crucial two-point conversion, that being a pass that finds its way into Tre Mosley’s hands.

For those of you who missed yesterday’s article, please click here. If you would like to look at previous articles of this series, feel free to scroll through my writing profile.

No. 25: Tre Mosley’s two-point conversion catch vs. Michigan

This was one of two Michigan State two-point conversions on the day, this one being to Mosley.

Why No. 25?

This play came at a time when the Spartans were looking to fight back into the game. After a Kenneth Walker short touchdown run to make it a 10-point ball game, Mel Tucker made the strategic call and went all in, electing to try for a two-point to get within one possession. Payton Thorne took the snap and showed tremendous patience and poise and found Mosley for a slightly contested two points.

This was one of a series of three plays that helped flip momentum to the Spartans. Between a Jayden Reed fourth-down conversion (that has an article coming later), Walker’s touchdown run (moment No. 28), and this play, these plays proved crucial in the final Spartan tally.

Tre Mosley had a quiet game against the Wolverines. When preparing to make this list, I was shocked to learn that Mosley had not recorded a catch (outside of this two-point attempt) against Michigan this season. Mosley was under-the-radar all last season, but he always does the little things right. For example, most of his best plays against Michigan occurred on blocking off a defensive back from an angle on Walker, Jalen Nailor, or Reed.

In this moment, however, Tre Mosley shined. A two-point conversion does not appear major in a four-point victory at first glance, but the momentum created was amazing. In the stadium, I went from believing a comeback being improbable to believing in the Spartans again. The “little things” turned out to be a crucial two points at the end of the day.

Payton Thorne had a rocky start against the Wolverines, with two first-quarter interceptions. However, he had calmed down and was cool, calm, and collected in the pocket on this play and found Mosley in time. There was no forced pass to compromise the Spartans, instead, Thorne went back to what he had done all year for Michigan State football: throw the ball and thrown it well. In this case, he threw it perfectly to Mosley, just out of reach of first-round draft pick Dax Hill.

While this moment was great in flipping the momentum of the game, there was still work to do. This play does rate higher than Walker’s touchdown, as without this, the Spartans would still face a deficit of two possessions. After this moment, the Spartans were down by eight. Based on the number of articles about this matchup I still have to write, there’s a reason I have this play so “low.” Besides, it also gets to mark the start of the top half of this list.

Statistically, this technically does not count. The catch, receiving yards, and a play that occurred in the end zone are not recorded for anything besides total points scored at the end of the day. Similarly, none of the statistics for Thorne are counted. However, this was one of his two passes that resulted in a successful two-point conversion against Michigan. Mosley might not have shown up in the stat line, but his impact was certainly felt on a rainy October afternoon.

Tomorrow, time will be reversed as we look at a moment that occurred earlier in this game.