Big Ten Championship Game

On December 15, 2015, the Number 4 Ranked Iowa Hawkeyes met the Number 5 Ranked Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Hawkeyes were representing the Western division of the Big Ten after an undefeated 12-0 season. The Spartans represented the Eastern division after beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in a crucial matchup, and finishing the regular season with an 11-1 record. Michigan State's only loss came against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a controversial finish. The winner of the game was almost surely going to make it into the College Football Playoffs to represent the Big Ten.
Before the game, Michigan State won the toss, and deferred the opening kickoff to Iowa in order to receive the ball at the start of the second half. On Iowa's opening drive, Henry Krieger Coble, who has some of the best hands on the Hawkeyes team, fumbled the ball to Michigan State, giving the Spartans excellent field-positioning on Iowa's 27 yard-line. Luckily for Iowa, their defense was able to stand strong, and the Spartans were forced to settle for a field goal. The Spartans then kicked off to the Hawkeyes, who were unable to answer the Spartans score, and were forced to punt the ball back to Michigan State. On the fourth play of the Spartans next drive, quarterback Connor Cook threw the ball off his own player to avoid a sack, and Josey Jewell of the Hawkeyes intercepted the ricochet to give the Hawkeyes good field positioning. In response to Iowa's tough defense, Michigan State was able to stand strong and hold the Hawks to a field goal to tie the game at 3 apiece. After some tough penalties against the Spartans, Iowa was able to get a nice three and out to get the ball back. After getting the ball back, Iowa made some nice plays before something tragic happened. During a Jordan Canzeri run, a Michigan State defender fell on the back of Canzeri's ankle, and he was unable to return for the rest of the game. This was a big blow to the Hawkeyes who had just gotten Canzeri back to 100% after a great game for him against the Cornhuskers last week. Fortunately for the Hawks, they still had three good running backs and were able to get a field goal to take the lead 6-3. The Spartans were unable to answer after they missed a field goal, and Iowa once again had the ball. Iowa took the ball all the way down to the Michigan State 5 yard-line to once again threaten to score. In an incredibly lucky turn of events for the Spartans, C.J. Beathard's pass was not caught by Krieger Coble and landed on a Michigan State defender's back and Demetrious Cox was able to pick it up for an interception in the in-zone. For the remainder of the first half, both teams were unable to score, and Iowa went into the halftime break leading 6-3, despite everyone's doubts.
Michigan State started the second half with the ball, and in a series very similar to the first half, the defense stood tall. Fortunately for the Spartans, Iowa was also unable to score, and Michigan State regained the ball. The Spartans were able to score on their next possession with a field goal to tie the game. After an Iowa Hawkeye punt, Michigan State was once again able to make a field goal to take the lead 9-6. On the second play of Iowa's next drive, C.J. Beathard was able to throw an incredible 85-yard pass to Tevaun Smith for his most explosive play of the season and also score a touchdown for the Hawkeyes to retake the lead 13-9. Both teams then traded punts until MSU got the ball back with 9:31 left in the game. On an incredibly long drive for the Spartans, which took 9:04, the they finally got the ball in the in-zone to take the lead 16-13 with only 27 seconds for the Hawkeyes to do something. On the first play of Iowa's drive, the Michigan State front line stood strong and sacked C.J. Beathard forcing Iowa to have to spike the ball to stop the clock with no timeouts. Iowa was unable to make a miracle happen after Tevaun Smith fumbled the ball back to the Spartans with no time left ending the game in a heartbreaker for the Hawkeyes. This game was Iowa's first loss this season and C.J. Beathard's first loss as a starter. However, while they were defeated, the Hawkeyes proved that they accomplished a great season after staying close to the Spartans until the final minutes after many said that the game would end in a rout for the Spartans. This was a nice end to a great season for both teams.