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| Michigan State running back Levi Jackson runs for what would be the game-winning touchdown in the Spartans' upset over #1 Ohio State in 1974. |
The finish in the 1974 game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan State Spartans was so strange that Sports Illustrated dubbed the game the "Bizarre Bowl" because it took 45 minutes after the game's final play to officially announce who had won the game.
It is a finish that is forever debated amongst the players who participated and fans who watched the game in person or on television.
The Ohio State Buckeyes came into the game ranked #1 in the country with a 8-0 record as their famous "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense had averaged 44.5 points per game up to this point with a backfield that featured quarterback Cornelius Greene, fullback Harold Henson, and tailback Archie Griffin.
The Buckeyes were coached by Woody Hayes who was hoping to win his fourth national title in his tenure at Ohio State which began in 1951.
While many Ohio State fans and media were looking toward the Buckeyes' regular season finale with the Michigan Wolverines as the de facto Big 10 championship game, Hayes could not overlook the Michigan State Spartans, especially since the game was going to be played in East Lansing in front of 75,000 fans at Spartan Stadium.
Michigan State came into the game unranked with a 4-3-1 record in what had been a rollercoaster season as the Spartans won their first two games, then went on a three-game losing streak, followed by a 21-21 tie at Illinois, then another two-game winning streak before their game with Ohio State.
The Spartans were led by head coach Denny Stolz, who was in his second season as head coach after replacing the legendary Duffy Daugherty, who had coached the Spartans from 1954-72.
Daugherty would be in the booth calling the game for ABC as the Spartans, who came into the game as four-touchdown underdogs, hosted the Buckeyes hoping to replicate their result from two years before when an unranked Michigan State team upset then #5 Ohio State in East Lansing.
The Spartans got the ball to start the game as they drove from their 20-yard-line to the Ohio State 49-yard-line until Michigan State lined up to punt on 4th & 3 only to have punter Tom Birney fumble the snap, leading him to abandon any attempt to punt and run for the 1st down.
Ohio State defensive lineman Pete Cusick and Van Decree tackled Birney for a 12-yard-loss to give the Buckeyes the ball at the Michigan State 39-yard-line.
Griffin would carry the ball four straight times, gaining 26 yards to the Spartans' 13-yard-line until Greene kept the ball himself and ran for five yards to the eight-yard-line to set up 2nd & 5 where Greene attempted his first pass of the game, which fell incomplete to force 3rd down as Brian Baschnagel would run for three yards to force 4th & 2.
Thomas Klaban would come on to kick a 22-yard field goal to give the Buckeyes a 3-0 lead with 6:29 left in the first quarter.
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| Head coach Woody Hayes confers with his quarterback Cornelius Greene, who ran for 66 yards on 11 carries and completed three of 11 passes for 44 yards. |
The Buckeyes would allow the Spartans to pick up a 1st down on their next possession forcing Birney to try and punt the ball which he was able to do as Ohio State's Neal Colzie awaited to receive the punt.
However, Buckeyes defensive back Doug Plank collided with Colzie, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Michigan State's Mike Dean at the Ohio State 44-yard-line.
But the Spartans could not take advantage of the turnover as they would go three-and-out to punt the ball again to the Buckeyes as they would take over at their 20-yard-line following a touchback on the punt.
The score was still 3-0 early in the second quarter when the Buckeyes had the ball at their 20-yard-line as they would drive to their 49-yard-line primarily on the legs of Henson, who carried the ball four times for 23 yards on the drive, until Greene was intercepted by Michigan State defensive back Tom Hannon on a deep pass intended for David Hazel at the Spartans' eight-yard-line.
Again, the Spartans were unable to convert the turnover into points as they punted the ball away after a six-play, 24-yard drive.
The game seemed destined to go into halftime with Ohio State on top 3-0 until Spartans defensive end Mike Duda recovered a Buckeyes fumble to give Michigan State the ball at its 46-yard-line with just a few minutes left in the first half.
Quarterback Charlie Baggett would complete a 18-yard-pass to Mike Hurd, but would then be sacked by Buckeyes defensive tackle Nick Buonamici for a 16-yard loss to push the Spartans back to their 48-yard-line and facing a 3rd & 26.
That is when Baggett ran around the left side for 30 yards and a 1st down but with time running out in the first half the Spartans decided to attempt a field goal as Hans Nielsen would make a 39-yard field goal with two seconds left to tie the game 3-3 as the first half came to an end.
The Buckeyes would get the ball to start the second half as they returned the opening kickoff to their 18-yard-line where five straight running plays picked up 18 yards until Greene completed a 30-yard pass to tight end Michael Bartoszek to give Ohio State a 1st down at the Michigan State 34-yard-line.
Three plays later, the Buckeyes would face a 4th & 2 when Hayes decided to skip a potential field goal and go for the 1st down which Ohio State got as Griffin ran around the right end for a five-yard gain to the Michigan State 21-yard-line.
Another five-yard run by Griffin and a seven-yard run by Henson gave the Buckeyes 1st & goal at the Spartans' nine-yard-line as another five-yard run by Griffin on 1st down followed by an one-yard run by Henson set up 3rd & goal from the three-yard-line.
The Buckeyes tried to surprise the Spartans by having Greene try and throw a pass for Griffin in the end zone but the Michigan State defense would force Greene to throw an incomplete pass, leading to a 20-yard field goal by Klaban to give Ohio State a 6-3 lead with 6:49 left in the third quarter.
The two teams would trade punts until the Buckeyes got the ball at the Michigan State 44-yard-line late in the third quarter and drove to the eight-yard-line when Klaban came on to attempt a 25-yard field goal, only to miss it to keep it 6-3 early in the 4th quarter.
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| Ohio State running back Archie Griffin had 23 carries for 140 yards. |
However, the Buckeyes would get another chance to increase the lead when two plays later, Ohio State cornerback David Luke recovered a Baggett fumble at the Spartans' 44-yard-line.
From there, the Buckeyes would run the ball eight straight times with the last carry going to Henson who punched it in for an one-yard touchdown to increase the Buckeyes' lead to 13-3 with 9:03 remaining in the game.
It seemed that the Buckeyes had finally put the game out of reach as the pesky Spartans needed two scores to salvage at least at a tie which looked a tall task as Michigan State had gained only 37 yards of offense in the second half.
The Spartans would get the ball at their 20-yard-line to begin their next possession as the first two plays picked up only one yard to set up 3rd & 9 when Baggett completed a 17-yard pass to fullback Levi Jackson to give Michigan State a 1st down at its 38-yard-line.
Baggett would follow this completion with a six-yard pass to Mike Jones, which was followed by a 10-yard run by Jackson to give Michigan State another 1st down at the Ohio State 46-yard-line.
Then after Jackson ran for two yards on 1st down, Baggett dropped back to pass and fired a long pass for Jones that was caught for a 44-yard touchdown to bring the Spartans to within four points at 13-9.
Stolz decided to go for two after the touchdown in hopes of converting to make it 13-11 meaning a field goal would win the game for the Spartans.
But Jackson caught Baggett's pass before he could get in the end zone and was tackled short of the goal line to keep it 13-9 with 5:30 left in the game.
The Buckeyes would begin their next possession at their 30-yard-line but the Spartans defense would force a three-and-out to get the ball back at their 12-yard-line with about three and a half minutes to play.
That is when Baggett handed the ball off to Jackson, who burst through a hole on the right side and cut toward the right sideline as he outran the Ohio State defense for a shocking 88-yard touchdown run to give Michigan State its first lead of the game at 16-13 with 3:17 remaining.
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| Michigan State quarterback Charlie Baggett completed five of 13 passes for 98 yards and ran for 65 yards on 14 carries. |
That was still enough time for the #1 Buckeyes to drive down and salvage at least a tie with a field goal or win the game with a touchdown.
An 11-yard return by Griffin gave the Buckeyes the ball at their 29-yard-line where the Spartans thought they got a turnover when on the first play of the drive, Greene threw a pass intended for Griffin, only to have Michigan State linebacker Terry McClowry make a diving attempt at an interception.
Officials ruled that McClowry did not come up with the interception ruling the pass was incomplete to make it 2nd down when Greene handed the ball off to Griffin, who ran up the middle for 31 yards and a 1st down at the Michigan State 40-yard-line.
Henson would get the ball on the next play running for only three yards which was followed by two straight runs by Greene that gained 14 yards and another 1st down at the Michigan State 23-yard-line.
That is when Greene tried to hit Bartoszek in the end zone but his pass was too high for the tight end to catch to force 2nd down when Greene completed a nine-yard pass to Haxel to set up 3rd & 1 as Greene handed the ball off to Henson who picked up three yards and a 1st down at the Michigan State 11-yard-line.
Griffin would get the ball on 1st down and run for five yards as Hayes called the Buckeyes' last timeout with 40 seconds to go and facing 2nd & 5 at the six-yard-line.
The Buckeyes could pick up a 1st down without scoring a touchdown as Henson got the ball following the timeout and ran it five yards to the one-yard-line.
Officials stopped the clock with 29 seconds left to measure whether or not Henson made the 1st down, which he did when the chains came out and showed that the ball had past the 1st down marker by half a football.
The Buckeyes lined up to huddle as the officials restarted the clock, then run back to the one-yard-line for what they hoped would be a game-winning touchdown.
Once again, Greene handed the ball off to Henson, who was stopped about half a yard short of the end zone by four Michigan State defenders, though Henson claims he was able to break the plank for a touchdown.
However, officials ruled that Henson had be stopped short of the goal line with 13 seconds to go.
Knowing the Buckeyes could not stop the clock, the Michigan State defense took their time in getting up and ready for the next play while the Buckeyes frantically tried to get one last play off before the clock struck zero.
That is when the madness began.
As Ohio State lined up to snap the ball, the clock struck zero as the snap went between Greene's legs and into the backfield where it was picked up by Bachnagel, who ran into the end zone.
While the back judge and field judge signaled that time had run out before Ohio State snapped the ball, the line judge had signaled touchdown leading to confusion amongst the officiating crew.
Michigan State fans come right onto the field to tear down the goalposts while both teams were celebrating thinking they had won the game.
Big 10 commissioner Wayne Duke, who had been watching the game in the press box, come down onto the field to meet with the officials to determine what exactly happened.
While Duke and the officials were sorting out the final sequence of events, the Michigan State players went to the locker room hoping to hear they had won the game while Hayes and the Buckeyes waited in the tunnel assuming they would go back and get one more play.
Finally after a 46-minute discussion, it was determined that Ohio State had not snapped the ball before the clock struck zero, meaning that the Spartans had won the game 16-13.
Hayes protested vehemently that the ball was snapped before time expired and that Bachnagel was five yards into the end zone though Bachnagel said years later he didn't think the Buckeyes got the play off in time and was more angry about Michigan State taking their time to get ready for a potential final play.
Here is the final seconds of the game:
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