Michigan State Spartans vs Nebraska Cornhuskers Match Player Stats On Nov 07, 2015

The Sports Xchange
Nov 7, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. – Quarterback Tommy Armstrong threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandon Reilly with 17 seconds remaining as Nebraska rallied from a 12-point deficit to defeat No. 7 Michigan State 39-38 on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

On a drive that started at Nebraska’s 9-yard line with 1:02 remaining, Armstrong completed passes of 33 and 28 yards to Jordan Westerkamp to get Nebraska in position for the winning score.

Reilly came out of bounds at the 3-yard line to catch the ball, but officials ruled he was forced out, therefore making the catch legal. Replay review upheld the call.

Armstrong finished 19 of 33 passing for 320 yards and two touchdowns as Nebraska (4-6, 2-4 Big Ten Conference) kept alive its slim bowl hopes, and ended Michigan State’s 12-game Big Ten Conference road winning streak and its national championship hopes in the process.

Quarterback Connor Cook threw for 335 yards and four touchdowns for the Spartans (8-1, 4-1). Cook, 23 of 37 for the game, completed seven passes for 125 yards on two third-quarter touchdown drives that seemingly put Michigan State in control.

The Spartans had only five second-half drives, but the first three resulted in touchdowns, the last a 1-yard scoring run by Gerald Holmes for a 38-26 lead. That finished a mammoth 16-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 8 minutes and 50 seconds, and left only 4:16 remaining in the game.

Nebraska rallied behind Armstrong’s 4-yard TD run with 1:47 remaining. Then the Huskers, with the help of two timeouts and a Michigan State penalty, forced a punt to regain possession for its winning drive.

Michigan State trailed 10-0 but took a 17-13 halftime lead on Cook's 18-yard touchdown pass to Macgarrett Kings with 17 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

That capped a 10-play, 75-yard drive that began after Drew Brown's 43-yard field goal had given Nebraska a 13-10 lead.

Nebraska started strong, holding Michigan State on fourth-and-short from the Nebraska 23-yard line on the opening drive of the game. Two possessions later, the Huskers went 38 yards in nine plays and settled for a 44-yard field goal from Brown for a 3-0 lead.

Nebraska forced a three-and-out to regain possession, and Armstrong connected with Westerkamp on a 38-yard touchdown pass for a 10-0 advantage.

Michael Geiger made a 46-yard field goal for Michigan State, and the Spartans tied the game when Kings caught a short pass from Cook, cut back and raced untouched for a 34-yard touchdown.

NOTES: Nebraska played an undefeated team at home in the month of the November for the first time since 1999, when the seventh-ranked Cornhuskers defeated No. 5 Kansas State 41-15. ... As a ranked team, Michigan State has lost only once in 36 games to an unranked opponent (at Notre Dame, 2011). ... Nebraska played its first ranked opponent of the season.