Ranking the 4 Michigan State football wins over Jim Harbaugh

1. October 17, 2015

Everyone who has ties to the state of Michigan and is a fan of football knows exactly where they were on Oct. 17, 2015, around 6:30 p.m. ET.

I was living in Ferndale at the time, with the perfect mix of still slightly hungover from the night before and the burn of Fireball in my system from a buddy convincing me to take a shot every time there was a touchdown. It was one of the most even games in the rivalry, with both teams being ranked in the top 15 and the time of possession favoring the Spartans by just 21 seconds.

It looked as though Jim Harbaugh’s first year as the Michigan head coach would result in another victory over the Spartans just as his playing days had. While Michigan State had more yards in the game, it just seemed like Michigan made just a few more plays to win the game. Desmond Howard’s smug grin and thumbs up would haunt our dreams for the rest of the season, the Spartans would drop in the rankings and the dream season would be over as Michigan dominates the Big Ten for the rest of eternity. These were all things that went through my mind with 10 seconds left in the game.

“Punt return for a touchdown” I joked as I took another misery shot of Fireball. The next thing I knew, the ball had not been punted, a herd of players in white jerseys were running into the end zone, and the Spartans had more points than the Wolverines as the clock hit 0:00. I was screaming, my friend was screaming, my MSU alum neighbor who had come over minutes before the play was screaming. I picked my dog up and twirled him around like we were in Dirty Dancing. It was the closest thing to a religious experience I ever had outside of a church.

The dream season was still alive and proved that the Spartans were not going to bow down to the almighty Harbaugh. I will remember that play for the rest of my life and is likely the greatest rivalry game ending in the history of sports.