Michigan State vs. Baylor: Score and Twitter Reaction for 2015 Cotton Bowl

Baylor spent much of the latter half of 2014 trying to prove itself against doubters. Whether it was fans or the College Football Playoff committee, the Bears succeeded every time but were still left on the outside looking in.

On Thursday, Michigan State arguably affirmed those fears.   

Connor Cook hit Keith Mumphery from 10 yards out with 17 seconds remaining to give the Spartans a thrilling 42-41 Cotton Bowl victory over Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Michigan State scored the game's final 21 points, all in the fourth quarter, to earn one of the largest comebacks of the 2014-15 college football season. 

Playing in their last collegiate games, Cook and running back Jeremy Langford spearheaded the Michigan State attack. Cook hit Josiah Price from eight yards out to make the score 41-28 early in the fourth quarter and Langford scored the last of his three touchdowns seven minutes later to reduce Baylor's lead to six. 

While the momentum was clearly in Michigan State's favor, Baylor still had a chance to salt the game away. Bryce Petty, who threw for a career-best and Cotton Bowl-record 550 yards, pushed the Bears downfield to set up what would have been a game-sealing field goal. However, Chris Callahan, who missed a 46-yard field goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter, had his 43-yard attempt blocked with just over a minute remaining.

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Cook then led an eight-play drive, completing three passes to clinch Michigan State's fourth consecutive bowl win. Mark Dantonio is now 4-4 in bowl games as the Spartans head coach, having lost the first four of such contests.

Cook completed 24 of 42 passes for 324 yards, a vast majority of which came in the second half. His two touchdowns were offset by two second-half interceptions, one of which he threw following a surprise onside kick recovery, and were the only way Michigan State was stopped down the stretch. 

Early on, it looked as if the Bears would need a massive scoring performance just to have a chance. Jeremy Langford, who rushed for 162 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns on the day, spearheaded touchdown drives on the Spartans' first two possessions, which included a career-best 65-yard scamper that proved to be their biggest play of the game. The 6'1" bruiser completed his career in East Lansing with 10 straight 100-yard games.

After those two possessions, though, Baylor built and extended a sizable lead. Petty made multiple big plays down the field, coach Art Briles pulled a Jay Lee wide receiver pass out of his bag of tricks for a touchdown and the Bears defense turned in brilliant second and third quarters. Baylor's 41-21 lead did not appear in any danger heading into the fourth. 

Also playing his last game, Petty proved why he'll go down as one of the best players in Baylor history. The senior completed 36 of his 51 passes to set multiple game records and was the sole source of offense for most of the contest. The Bears threw the ball 52 times against 22 runs and weren't effective when they handed the ball off. 

"When I came in here, I said I was going to be [Baylor's] best quarterback," Petty told Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press this week. "So I think that, as long as I'm in that conversation, that I've achieved that goal."

KD Cannon was Petty's top target, making eight receptions for 197 yards and two touchdowns. The freshman broke Baylor's single-season receptions record for a freshman, which Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright set in 2008. 

Corey Coleman added 150 yards and Antwan Goodley had a team-high nine catches for 93 yards.

Baylor's aerial assault offered a poor going-out party for Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. The longtime assistant will be the head coach at Pittsburgh after an eight-year run for the Bears, taking over for Paul Chryst.

“He’s a great guy who understands how to develop players,” safety Kurtis Drummond said, per Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “That speaks volumes. He’s not just a guy who relies on the talent to perform, but he’s going to coach you up and bring the best out of you.”

LM Otoro/Associated Press

Michigan State's secondary has been a source of concern all season—especially against uptempo offenses. Oregon and Ohio State, the best comparisons to Baylor on the Spartans' regular-season schedule, combined for 95 points in Sparty's two losses. In Michigan State's 10 victories, it allowed more than 22 points just once before the Cotton Bowl.

For Baylor, this loss is its second straight in a high-profile bowl game. The Bears allowed UCF to score 52 points on them in last season's Fiesta Bowl and remain a team difficult to peg on defense. Briles' uptempo offense is consistently among the best in the nation, but Baylor isn't going to be a national title contender until it figures out the other side of the ball.

The game in many ways mirrored the way Baylor came back against TCU in October for a thrilling 61-58 victory. Since the College Football Playoff committee's selections were unveiled, many in the Waco, Texas community pointed to that victory as the reason they were more deserving than TCU. The Horned Frogs' 42-3 shellacking of Ole Miss in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl combined with this collapse will put a dent in that argument. 

Or, at the very least, it will prove the playoff committee correct for leaving Baylor on the outside looking in.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter