A MSU photographer caught fill-in linebacker Kyler Ellsworth in full launch with Stanford fullback Ryan Hewitt in his grasp with the key stop of the game on fourth and one in the fourth quarter. MSU MIRACLE! Failure to Launch Not an Option for Gutsy Spartans
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Fourth and one at the Cardinal 34.
Score MSU Spartans 24, Stanford Cardinal 20.
Time: 1:43 left in the 100th Rose Bowl game. Jan. 1, 2014.
The stadium rocked with 95,000 screaming fans, an estimated 60,000 from the East Lansing school creating a sea of green blotting out patches of Stanford red.
Twenty-four hundred miles across the country couldn't keep loyal Spartans away after 26 years of Rose Bowl famine.
Game on the line, enter the Cardinal "jumbo-jumbo monster package."
Averaging 300 pounds, the five-man front had crushed opponents all season with a short yardage strategy.
Looming over opponents were left tackle Andrus Peat, 6-7, 308; All American left guard David Yankey, 6-5, 302; Center Kahlil Wilkes, 6-3, 291; right guard Kevin Danser, 6-6, 292; and right tackle Cam Fleming, 6-6, 308.
They were the jumbo-jumbo package the media called "the finest offensive line in football," comparable, some enthused, to the biggest and best pro blockers.
They had won the Rose Bowl last year and were favored by at least a TD to repeat. Hardly any sportscaster or writer, except Michigan types, gave the Spartans much of a chance. Wisconsin had fallen 20-14 last year. Big Ten teams weren't measuring up in many of the bowl games.
Long-suffering fifth-year senior Kyler Ellsworth was pressed into service to fill the shoes of a suspended star, brains of the defense Max Bullough.
After four years playing behind Bullough, Ellsworth finally would get his chance -- in the biggest stage of his, and MSU football's quarter-century.
A backup linebacker and special teams specialist, Ellsworth, at 6-1, 225 is not the biggest defensive man. But, as a guy who was a good enough high school wrestler to have a university scholarship, he has plenty of athleticism.
While many of his team-mates did the Disneyland, Sunset Strip and Hollywood scene that is part of the Rose Bowl allure, Ellsworth watched game films of the Cardinal.
There would be plenty of time for glitz and celebrities. Like the rest of your life that will be an anti-climax after the Rose Bowl game of the century.
In the long, lonely hours in the film room, he saw something. Something that might just be important on a key play.
No nonsense Stanford didn't have to fool anyone; they came right at you.
They proved that on the first play of the game when quarterback Kevin Hogan pierced the Spartans' "no fly zone" with absolute impunity--striking for 43 yards with an unerring pass to wide receiver Michael Rector right down the middle.
It was the same on key running plays; he could see on film the two-ton offensive line just smashed the opponent and fired speedy halfback Tyler Gaffney or 243-pound fullback Ryan Hewitt through for the yardage they wanted. No brainer. Just brawnier.
Somehow the Spartans survived two crushing blows; a fumble by Jeremy Langford and a "wounded duck" pass by Quarterback Connor Cook that resulted in an easy "pick six" for the Cardinal.
Head Coach Mark Dantonio displayed his ultimate cool, and savvy coaching skill, by soothing Cook after throwing the hapless interception: "You good?" "Sure coach, I'm OK," was Cook's reply.
A coach with lesser human relations skills might have growled: "you just cost us the game."
A better answer from the soph QB came when he did not flinch and kept firing completed passes, including a fourth quarter 25-yard TD dagger to WR Tony Lippett.
Everybody in the stadium knew where Stanford was heading on the final drive: right up the middle, smash-mouth football that had paid off all year.
Ellsworth knew he could never split those behemoths in the Stanford middle to make a tackle for loss. He'd have to go over the top.
The former wrestler from Goodrich High, a small high school near Flint, was ready. "I knew I had to launch." And he knew, or guessed, who was going to get the ball -- the bull of the backfield, Hewitt.
With Hogan faking to decoy Gaffney, the hand-off came right where Ellsworth hoped it was coming. He was high in the air, along with defensive end Shalique Calhoun, before Hewitt even got the ball.
Smash-mouth offense deserves high-flying defense, the pair probably thought.
The launch was on target, and Hewitt was smeared before he could hardly take a step.
Watch the replay; the Spartans went airborne and, like a flash, the historic game was over.
Time to high-five and gawk while strolling on Hollywood Boulevard.
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jleecole Says:
On January 06, 2014
at 02:38 PM
Excellent article Dave. Made me feel like I was right there!
Well done. Jerry |
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Dave Rogers |
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