50 defining moments from the 2021 Michigan State football season: No. 19

We are officially under 20 days until the 2022 Michigan State football season. Today, I look when the Spartan defense and Quavaris Crouch stood tall.

Welcome back to the 32nd edition of 50 defining moments of the 2021 Michigan State football season. Connor Heyward broke into the top 20 yesterday, and today we look at a crucial fourth-down stop against Michigan by Quavaris Crouch.

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. 19: Brad Robbins stuffed on fourth down by Quavaris Crouch

Why No. 19?

At halftime, the Spartans trailed their in-state rivals by nine points. Michigan also got the ball to start the third quarter and looked to build on their lead. On the strength of an Erick All third down conversion and check downs by Cade MacNamara, the Wolverines had gotten into Spartan territory. After Blake Corum was stuffed on third down, the Wolverines had a false start to wreck their first attempt at fourth down.

Brad Robbins was sent in to punt the ball, and the rest is history.

On this play, Brad Robbins took the snap and hesitated, before breaking to his left to try to give the Wolverines a first down. At first, it appeared that he would convert, as he was able to get the edge around defensive tackle Jacob Slade. Quavaris Crouch thought differently and came flying in like a missile to lay the wood on Robbins just as he tried to extend for a first. When the dust cleared, the Wolverines were just short of a first down, turning the ball over to the Spartans.

Crouch was a force against the Wolverines. He brought the energy and did not like the opposition one bit in this rivalry game. Every play he was getting involved with a tackle or jawing with the Wolverines to get into their head. He will be missed this season when the Spartans play Michigan. His athleticism was on full display here, with Crouch coming from out of the picture to sealing this run as just shy of the line to gain.

While this play did not generate momentum for a Spartan touchdown, it prevented the game from getting any worse than it already was. Considering the Wolverines scored one more touchdown to make the margin 16 points, this play was necessary to keep the Spartans alive for their comeback. Without this play, this moment could have been a “what if” when looking back on this season.

This stated, it cannot rank any higher on my list due to these same reasons. The game still needed to be played out and this moment did not generate momentum for the next Michigan State football touchdown. This play helped stop the bleeding but did not cure the problem. Unlike another fourth-down stop that is ranked higher, this play came when the Spartans were behind. Additionally, I am still unsure as to if this play was a product of a Wolverine punter having some, ahem, trouble with the snap, planned, or Robbins free-lancing and nearly having it pay off. Jim Harbaugh was too busy bawling about the referees to address this play if I recall correctly.

Statistically, this was part of Crouch’s team-leading 13 tackle outing against the Wolverines. It also contributed to his 75 tackles on the season for the Spartans. This was also one of a few turnovers for the Wolverines when counting turnovers on downs and defensively forced turnovers.

Tomorrow, time will fast forward a bit as we go to another crucial moment in this game.