Michigan State vs. Ohio State: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

Playing without their starting quarterback, the Michigan State Spartans ended the Ohio State Buckeyes' 23-game winning streak and undefeated season with a come-from-behind 17-14 victory in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday.

Michigan State kicker Michael Geiger ended the game with a 41-yard field goal to cap off an eight-play, 25-yard drive that took the final four minutes and seven seconds off the clock.

The big story coming into Saturday's matchup was whether Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook would play. He wound up sitting out while battling right shoulder problems, though ESPN's College GameDay noted the senior star warmed up before the game. 

Despite Cook's absence, Michigan State never looked overmatched against a ferocious Buckeyes defense. Backup Tyler O'Connor wasn't asked to do much through the air, throwing just 12 passes, as head coach Mark Dantonio used 51 running plays to slow things down. 

Sticking with Dantonio, ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg put Michigan State's head football coach on par with another East Lansing legend:

For evidence of that, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports noted Dantonio has won five of his last six games against teams ranked in the Top 5.

The run-heavy attack worked well when the Spartans tied the game at 14 with a 13-play, 75-yard drive early in the fourth quarter. That march included O'Connor converting a 4th-and-3 from Ohio State's 30-yard line. It would have been a 4th-and-8 attempt, but defensive end Joey Bosa was called for an offsides penalty to give the Spartans a better chance to convert. 

Both teams relied heavily on the running game, attempting 32 combined passes compared to 80 rushes. Michigan State racked up 203 yards on the ground with its 51 carries. 

Ohio State's offense had no rhythm, though quarterback J.T. Barrett was able to improvise at times. This Tim Tebow-esque six-yard touchdown pass to Jalin Marshall gave the Buckeyes a 14-7 lead, per College GameDay:

That was as good as things would get for Barrett. He finished with 43 passing yards and nine completions in the loss.

The biggest surprise of the game was Michigan State's swarming defense, especially against Ohio State star running back Ezekiel Elliott. The potential Heisman Trophy finalist had run for at least 100 yards in every game this season before Saturday, but Michigan State held him to 33 yards on 12 carries. 

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer seemed to lose faith in Elliott, as Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel noted late in the fourth quarter:

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports was not impressed by Meyer's approach to the game:

It seemed to be an unusual strategy. ESPN.com's Joe Schad noted before the game that Meyer said Barrett had to "be a playmaker" and not just "a distributor." Ohio State finished the game with 132 yards of total offense. According to ESPN Stats & Info, it was the lowest mark ever for a team coached by Meyer.

Perhaps Dantonio has discovered the right formula against Meyer's Buckeyes, as this stat from CBS Sports' Dane Brugler suggests:

Weather conditions weren't ideal for either side, but Dantonio was making a point to get the ball in the hands of running backs Gerald Holmes and LJ Scott down the stretch to wear down Ohio State's defense.

While Michigan State's defensive effort played a role, Meyer's offense was so vanilla that it limited Barrett and Elliott. He may have overthought things, with the Spartans not having Cook, but it was an uninspired offensive game plan. 

B/R's Ben Axelrod was critical of Meyer's offensive strategy:

This was a dramatic reversal of fortune for the Spartans defense, which has struggled against the pass this season, per Ari Wasserman of the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Ohio State had been flirting with disaster all season, particularly in its close wins against Northern Illinois and Indiana, but its first real test of 2015 proved to be its downfall. The Buckeyes are likely out of the College Football Playoff mix after the defeat, though a win against Michigan next week and a Michigan State loss to Penn State would give the Buckeyes the Big Ten East title and a glimmer of playoff hope. 

Michigan State, on the other hand, has vaulted back into the playoff conversation two weeks after being upset by Nebraska. The Spartans have wins over Michigan and Ohio State, both on the final play of the game.

A victory over Penn State next week would give the Spartans a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game against a potentially undefeated Iowa team. It would be hard for the selection committee to overlook a resume featuring wins over Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa, especially with one coming as Cook was on the sidelines. 

Post-Game Reaction

In the Ohio State locker room, tensions seemed to spill over for Elliott. The junior was not shy about hiding his displeasure at how things played out, with Tim Moody of Scout.com quoting him as saying the play calling didn't put the Buckeyes "in the right situations to win this game."

Per Rick Pizzo of the Big Ten Network, Elliott also said that Michigan State is "a team we should beat." Following up on that, per Eric Seger of Eleven Warriors, Elliott didn't need to wait until after the season to make his intentions known:

According to Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports, Elliott did lobby Meyer for more touches while on the sidelines to no avail. 

Per Wasserman, Elliott added that the poor play-calling is something that's plagued the Buckeyes all year. 

"It is kind of something we've seen all season, honestly," Elliott said. "We'll have some momentum, we're calling plays that work and then we kind of try to get away from it and try to get cute and run some other stuff."

One possible reason for Elliott's limited use, per Moody, was the running back confirming he spent three days in the hospital earlier this week with an infection.

On the winning side, O'Connor made his case for Michigan State as one of the four playoff teams to Schad, per College Football on ESPN Radio:

Speaking to ABC's Heather Cox after the victory, per Justin Dacey of MLive.com, Dantonio said everything between the ears is where his team shined:

"

We talked about it -- just be mentally tough -- and we said coming into this year we needed to reach higher and this was the day we had to do that. The one thing that made a difference (is we've) been chased all year long so far in 10 games and this game we got to be the chaser. So we could chase this game. We could play on emotion.

"

Dantonio also touched on Cook's status in the post-game press conference, included in Dacey's report, saying "we think he'll be back" in time for next week. 

Given the way Michigan State is closing the season, adding a fully-functional Cook will only make the Spartans more dangerous.