EVANSTON—Close but no cigar for the Northwestern Wildcats who tried to pull off what would have been a nice upset.#8 Michigan Stated scored three touchdowns in the final quarter and rallied from an early 17-0 hole to beat the Wildcats 35-27 at Ryan Field.On a wet day,MSU received after Northwestern won the coin toss and chose to defer.The Spartans punted their first two possessions while NU did once,but on their second series,the Wildcats drove 72 yards in ten plays,keyed by a Dan Persa to Rashad Lawrence 44 yard third down pass to the MSU 13. After an incomplete pass,Persa ran around right end for seven to the six and then hit Jeremy Ebert to the three for a first and goal.Persa then kept it for three and a touchdown.On the next MSU possession, Edwin Baker fumbled after a 3 yard gain and NU’s Bryce McNaul recovered at the Cats 47. Ebert took a lateral from from Persa and hit Ebert for 28 yards to the MSU 25.Adonis Smith ran for 11 to the Spartan 15. Persa than found Demetrius Fields who ran to the MUS 1.But NU failed to take advantage of the chance when Jacob Schmidt was stuffed at the line and coughed it up.Johnny Adams recovered for MSU at the 2.Michigan State was again three and out and punted. The Wildcats started at the MSU 39.The first quarter ended with NU at the Spartan 20.On a third down,Persa was sacked and Stefan Demos kicked a 37 yard field goal for a 10-0 Wildcat lead with 12:42 remaining in the half.After a nice drive,the Spartans came up empty when Dan Conroy’s 38 yard field goal try was wide right. On first down Mark Vernic on an end around picked up 29 to midfield. Persa then hit Ebert for 12 and ran for 22 to the MSU 11.Drake Dunsmore ran to the five and Smith to the just inside the 1 for a first down.Persa was stopped on a sneak, then scored on second down to make it 17-0 with 6:07 left in the second quarter.The Spartans got their offense going and drove 68 yards in 8 plays with Kirk Cousins finding Mark Dell over the middle from 7 yards with 2:49 left and it was 17-7 NU at halftime. The second half did not start off well for Northwestern. They went three and out with their opening possession and a weak punt allowed Michigan State to start gave Michigan State the ball to start at the NU 48. It State just three plays to score with Bennie Fowler breaking a 22 yard run off right guard to cut the lead to 17-14.The Cats again failed to move the ball with Persa getting sacked on a third and three.Brandon Williams punted this time to the MSU 42.Each team was forced to punt before the Cats regained some momentum with an 80 yard,15 play drive that took 5:22 off the clock.Some nifty running by Peas keyed everything and he finished it off with a 6 yard TD run in which spun away from two would be tacklers to make it 24-14.Michigan State started a drive as the third quarter ended and faced a fourth down at the NU 35 and took a delay of game penalty to give the impression they wanted to punt the ball inside the ten,but Aaron Bates faked and threw a pass to Fowler at the 15 for a first down.This was a play that MSU Coach Mark Dantonio called “Mouse Trap” and it fooled the Cats to be sure. On the next play Cousins hit Dell on the near side of the end zone for his second TD of the game to again bring Michigan State with within seven. Fields returned the kickoff to the NU 43.Persa hit Charles Brown for 28 and then ran for 15 to the MSU 14. The drive died with another sack and Demos kicked a 41 yard field goal to increase the Cats lead to 27-21 with 9:47 remaining.That would be the final NU points of the day.Demos kicked off out of the end zone and MSU went three and out. Bates punted into the strong wind and it died at midfield,but the Wildcats also did nothing and Williams punt was fair caught at his own 12 with 7:18 remaining.MSU’s winning drive lasted 5:18 and Cousins was hot when he needed to be.He finished the drive with 2:00 on the clock with a 9 yard strike to B.J.Cunningham,who made a diving grab.The Cats still had all of their timeout left,but turned the ball over on downs as Persa was under severe pressure,and off target. The Spartans put it out of reach with Baker breaking a 25 yard TD run with 1:07 left.

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