If you haven’t already heard, the Michigan State Spartans went into Camp Randall on Saturday and handed the 25th ranked Badgers their first loss at home since 2009.
It ended with MSU quarterback Andrew Maxwell connecting on a 12-yard touchdown pass with Bennie Fowler to give the Spartans the 16-13 victory.
However, before overtime even crept into the minds of MSU players and fans, the Spartans were down by a field goal with under six minutes to play when Maxwell found wide receiver Tony Lippett for a 20-yard gain on 2nd and 17. Five plays later, Maxwell found Le’Veon Bell on a 5-yard touchdown reception which allowed the game to go into overtime.
While there were many big plays in later stages of the game, the most important and most intriguing play for Michigan State came when Lippett caught the 20-yard reception late in the fourth quarter.
Maxwell speaks on the “magical” play during the post-game press conference. (Photo by Chris Thelen)
“That’s actually something that we drew up this morning, at the hotel.” Maxwell said on Saturday when asked about the play to Lippett.
According to Bell, the newly bred play was called “Caddie Up” or “Caddy Up.”
“The first time I heard it in the huddle I was like ‘Caddie up, what’s that?’,” Bell said.
With a lot of the Spartans criticism this season being aimed at the wide receivers’ inability to make plays, there is no doubt that Lippett put those doubts to rest for at least one weekend.
“I thought I overthrew him when it left my hand and he made a great play,” Maxwell said. “He’s so tall and so long that he went up and got it, and that really kept the drive going for us.”
Michigan State is now 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. They host the Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-3, 3-2) on Saturday.
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