The No. 4 Iowa football team fell to No. 5 Michigan State in the Dec. 5 Big Ten Championship, 16-13.
By Danny Payne
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INDIANAPOLIS — In Lucas Oil Stadium on the evening of Dec. 5, two teams played perhaps the best college-football game of the 2015 season — a defensive slugfest with a conference title on the line, two heavyweights with a trip to the College Football Playoff going to the winner.
Only one could win. Much to the chagrin of roughly two-thirds of the capacity crowd, that was the Spartans. They did it via a 22-play, 82-yard touchdown drive that ate up 9:04 minutes and, seemingly, most of the Indianapolis real estate. The touchdown and PAT put Michigan State up 16-13 with 27 seconds remaining. The score stayed that way as facilities staff pulled the trophy-presentation stage onto the field just after the clock hit zero.
One team rushed the field with joy, the other walked to its sideline before disappearing through the tunnel. One team blared music in celebration, one team’s players walked to the interview room with soft voices and blank stares.
Although the best-case scenario is a trip to the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, this loss isn’t going anywhere any time soon for that second-place team. How could it?
That drive, which was the closest thing to a slow and painful death possible in the sport of football, will give Iowa and its fans nightmares for the foreseeable future. Connor Cook’s 16-yard pass to Aaron Burbridge on third-and-8 to keep the series alive, his 3-yard rush on fourth-and-2 to set up an LJ Scott touchdown plunge three plays later — none of it is going away soon. The pain of the loss will outweigh the memory of what a great football game this was.
Iowa’s offense, which ran just 16 plays in the second half, stood helplessly on the sideline, only to get the ball with a long way to go, virtually no time, and no time-outs after the touchdown.
Quarterback C.J. Beathard fumbled, and Derrick Mitchell Jr. recovered. One final chance was there, but the Hawkeyes weren’t able to do anything with it.
They will second-guess the chances they were given, not just on that final drive but throughout the entire game. Perhaps those three red-zone trips in the first half that yielded only 6 points will stick out most, perhaps it will be the Spartans’ second-half prowess on the ground.
The facts are simple — Iowa didn’t finish, but Michigan State did.
To be fair, there are positives, too. The Rose Bowl is still in play and should be Iowa’s destination. Despite the undesirable outcome, look at the difference in the way the Hawkeyes played against the Spartans compared with how Ohio State played them. We can talk more about that later.
Will a bowl win help Iowa get over this? Perhaps, but what’s relevant now in Hawkeye Nation is obvious — the immediate sting of taking second place is bad, perhaps worse than that of a year filled with mediocrity did in 2014.
Iowa had a goal and didn’t reach it, and the once-undefeated team is undefeated no more.
It hurts.
That’s what comes with taking second place.