Spartans make magic - again

The northeast corner of Spartan Stadium is now officially The Magic Corner.

“I’m going to make a video of all the magical plays that have happened in that part of the stadium,” said an uncharacteristically giddy coach Mark Dantonio. “I am. Seriously. I’m going to have that part of the stadium enshrined. You want to write a story? Write a story about all the special plays that happened down there.”

That corner was where “Little Giants,” last year’s overtime touchdown off a fake field goal against Notre Dame, occurred. It was also where Larry Caper scored an overtime touchdown that beat Michigan in 2009. And it was also where Amp Campbell scooped up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown against Oregon in 1999 — a year after a serious neck injury against the Ducks nearly claimed his football career.

But “The Rocket” might soar far beyond all predecessors.

“Wow,” was all B.J. Cunningham could initially say.

It was his face mask that deflected the Hail Mary pass into Keith Nichol’s waiting grasp at the Wisconsin two yard line with no time remaining on the clock and nearly 80,000 stunned people at Spartan Stadium expecting overtime.

“I can’t say that’s how we drew it up,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said.

The Spartans’ 37-31 last-second miracle over Wisconsin potentially becomes one of those seminal moments for a program historically stung by hard luck defeats in the closing seconds. There’s a litany of heartache that the Spartan faithful can recite religiously over recent history.

Maybe the football heavens are finally smiling down upon them. They’ve enjoyed significant good luck since last season with “Little Giants” and the fake punt “Mousetrap” that spurred an improbable comeback at Northwestern. The Spartans now believe that they can perform the improbable.

It’s another evolutionary step for a program that must be taken seriously.

“Absolutely, we believe in ourselves and that’s all that matters,” Cousins said. “There were some people who thought we had no chance against Wisconsin, and they’ll probably think that we’ll have a let down next week against Nebraska. But we don’t care about that. It doesn’t even really motivate us like it might have before because we know that we can do it.”

This could have been a colossal choke for Michigan State, blowing a 14-point fourth quarter lead after coming back from a 14-point first quarter deficit.

It didn’t matter that they didn’t have William Gholston. Those crying the loudest that the sophomore defensive end’s one-game suspension against the Badgers was suitable justice for his transgressions last week against Michigan were left crying even more.

Was this Dantonio’s biggest win at Michigan State?

“I thought last week’s was pretty special,” he said.

These are the two best teams in the Big Ten. That’s not saying much considering the conference’s collective quality is far worse relative to its previous “down” years. But they provided an entertaining show that fans in these parts wouldn’t mind seeing again on the first Saturday in December in Indianapolis for the Big Ten’s inaugural football championship game.

The most important game for Michigan State — at least relative to its chances of finally making a Rose Bowl for the first time in a generation — remains next week in Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are a Legends Division partner, and a victory in Lincoln would assure the Spartans of all the necessary divisional tiebreakers.

Dantonio will enjoy this one. And he should. He absorbed a lot of criticism last week. Many thought he couldn’t teach discipline to his players after six personal fouls against the Wolverines. But his team didn’t commit one penalty against Wisconsin.