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Michigan State holds off Stanford 24-20 in Rose Bowl

Stanford built a championship season on wearing teams down with its punishing ground attack and winning close games.

PASADENA, Calif. — Stanford built a championship season on wearing teams down with its punishing ground attack and winning close games.

But in its most important game, the roles were reversed as Michigan State came back from a 10-0 first-quarter deficit, outplayed Stanford in the second half and finished a 13-1 season with a 24-20 Rose Bowl triumph Wednesday.

Stanford ran the ball for 102 yards in the first half against the nation's No.1 defense that had allowing an average of just 81 yards a game. But Stanford ran for only 10 yards in the third quarter — and got stuffed on two key fourth-down plays in the second half — as Michigan State turned momentum around and wore down the Cardinal.

"Thirteen and one is pretty special," said Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who guided the Spartans to a victory in their first BCS bowl game and their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1988.

"Defensively, in the second half, we played very, very well. You win with toughness, and I thought we did that tonight."

Michigan State, ranked No.4 but a 6 1/2-point underdog to No.7 Stanford, took its first lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Connor Cook to Tony Lippett early in the fourth quarter to make it 24-17.

Cook, a 6-4 sophomore, had a roller coaster day, throwing a pick-six interception and having two other seemingly sure interceptions dropped by Stanford. But he kept chucking it and fueled the Spartans' comeback, ultimately throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns.

He was selected the Offensive Player of the Game.

"You have to have a short memory," Cook said. "I had to push that (interception) behind me and focus on the task at hand."

Stanford led 17-14 at halftime and scored in the second half only on a 39-yard Jordan Williamson field goal with 4:15 left in the game.

The Cardinal got the ball back on its own 25-yard line with 3:06 left in the game and one timeout. On third-and-2, running back Tyler Gaffney was stopped for a one-yard gain. On fourth-and-1, fullback Ryan Hewitt was stopped for no gain, and that was the ballgame.

The fourth-down stop was made on an over-the-pile lunge by middle linebacker Kyler Elsworth, who was a fill-in for suspended defensive captain and three-year starter Max Bullough.

"It was a little nerve-racking starting in place of the guy who's started so many games for us, but I had the support of my coaching staff that I'd get the job done," Elsworth said.

On the crucial defensive stop, "I saw how close their offensive line splits were, and I thought the only way to make a play was to go over the top," Elsworth said. "Fortunately, I was in the right place at the right time."

Stanford (11-3) hoped to win the game by grinding away with workhorse running back Gaffney, and he got off to a great start. But after running for 79 yards and a touchdown in the first half, Gaffney was hemmed in by Michigan State's veteran defense in the second half. He finished with 91 yards.

"They had nine in the box," said Gaffney, who came into the game averaging 125 yards. "Maybe a couple of more deep balls would have been helpful to the run game. But they played great, and we didn't respond the way we needed to."

The game was played in beautiful California winter weather — sunny and 78 degrees at kickoff — and the team from California got off to a fast start.

On the second play from scrimmage, Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan threw a perfect deep ball caught by Michael Rector for a 43-yard gain.

Five plays later, Gaffney took a handoff up the middle, bounced off one Michigan defender and scampered into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

A 47-yard run by Gaffney set up a 34-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.

Then Michigan State finally made an offensive push, moving the ball downfield, getting a pass interference call in the end zone and scoring a touchdown on a two-yard run by Jeremy Langford to make it 10-7.

Cook connected on several key passes on the scoring drive, but late in the second quarter, he coughed up a terrible pass under duress.

Stanford linebacker Kevin Anderson, who dropped what should have been an interception earlier in the quarter, caught the ill-advised lob and ran it 40 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead.

Cook rebounded, however, passing the Spartans to a quick score before halftime. His 37-yard pass to Bennie Fowler gave Michigan State a first down at the Stanford 3. Cook, on second down, avoided a strong rush and found Trevon Pendleton for a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 17-14.

Then the Spartans struck first in the second half, tying it 17-17 on a Michael Geiger 31-yard field goal.

Stanford got into Michigan State territory on a 51-yard pass from Hogan to Devon Cajuste but, on fourth-and-3 at the Spartans 36-yard line, Gaffney was wrapped up by Michigan State linebacker Denicos Allen behind the line of scrimmage for a three-yard loss.

After the game, Stanford coach David Shaw said he had no second thoughts on either of the fourth-down play calls that failed.

"When I don't do that, everybody goes crazy, like, 'We should have done this, we shouldn't have done that,'" Shaw said. "I don't worry about any of that stuff. I'm going to put the ball in the hands of our guys and put it on the offensive line. We got beat today by a really good football team."

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