Wisconsin vs. Michigan State: Score and Twitter Reaction

On the power of a dominant defensive effort, the No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers upset the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans 30-6 on Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. 

Undefeated Wisconsin handed MSU its first loss of the season and held the Spartans to 325 yards of total offense—much of which came during garbage time. The Badgers forced four turnovers en route to their first road win against Michigan State since 2002.

Coupled with its victory over LSU in Week 1, Wisconsin has already enjoyed its most success in a single season against Top 10 opponents in 54 years, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook was far from electric for the Badgers in his first career start, but he outplayed MSU senior signal-caller Tyler O'Connor by completing 16 of 26 passes for 195 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Per Jim Polzin of the Wisconsin State Journal, Hornibrook was especially good on third down:

O'Connor struggled to the tune of 18-of-38 passing with 224 yards, no touchdowns and three picks on a day that saw the Badgers stifle the Spartans consistently in their efforts to establish long drives.

After Michigan State took an early 3-0 lead, Wisconsin set the tone on its second drive of the game by going 65 yards on 16 plays in over seven minutes of game time.

As seen in this video courtesy of Wisconsin on BTN, Hornibrook capped it off with a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Steffes, which put the Badgers on top 7-3 after the extra-point attempt:

The Wisconsin defense then took over in the second quarter when senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton intercepted O'Connor deep in Michigan State territory.

That gave the Badgers a short field on offense, and they took advantage. Senior running back Corey Clement scored his first of two touchdowns on the day from one yard out:

Kicker Andrew Endicott missed the extra point, though, which left the door open for the Spartans with a score of 13-3.

Michael Geiger punched through his second field goal of the game for MSU prior to halftime, and despite getting outplayed, the Spartans entered the locker room down by just one score at 13-6.

After the Badgers punted on their first drive of the second half, Michigan State had a chance to drive for the tying score, but Wisconsin made a huge defensive play when junior linebacker Jack Cichy caused running back LJ Scott to fumble. Safety Leo Musso took it 66 yards for a touchdown:

Wisconsin tacked on a field goal on its next possession to go up 23-6 before Michigan State made yet another major blunder by botching a snap on a punt near its own end zone:

That allowed the Badgers to start their drive from MSU's 5-yard line, and Clement made quick work of it with a five-yard score on the ground to increase the lead to 30-6:

Clement's second touchdown closed out the scoring for the game, and while Michigan State was able to add to its yardage total late in the fourth quarter, it could not find the end zone and didn't run a single successful play in Wisconsin's red zone.

Following the emphatic victory, ESPN's Rece Davis was left with no doubt that the Badgers are a threat to go far in 2016:

While Wisconsin executed and carried out head coach Paul Chryst's game plan to perfection, Graham Couch of the Lansing State Journal pointed out that Mark Dantonio's Spartans team unraveled Saturday:

Wisconsin won't have the luxury of enjoying its win for long, as its next four games are against Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska.

The Badgers may be for real, but even the best of the best could have issues over the course of such an arduous stretch.

MSU looked awful Saturday; however, a schedule of Indiana, BYU, Northwestern and Maryland over its next four could allow it to get back on track before it clashes with Michigan.

Wisconsin outplayed Michigan State and established itself as a College Football Playoff contender, but several more challenges stand in the Badgers' way before they can reach that point.

Postgame Reaction

Following Saturday's huge win, Chryst showered his players with compliments and praised the effort they put forth in a hostile environment, according to Benjamin Worgull of Scout.com:

He was especially happy with the defense and its ability to keep the Spartans out of the end zone:

While Chryst was clearly happy with his program and where it is heading, he doesn't believe he has seen the best out of his team yet:

Dantonio's postgame press conference was understandably less jovial, and he made it clear he's prepared to hear it from pundits after such a decisive loss at home:

Shaky quarterback play contributed heavily to Michigan State's demise Saturday, but Dantonio has no intention to sit O'Connor, per Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press:

MSU has what looks like a manageable stretch of games coming up over the next month, and that should give O'Connor a golden opportunity to bounce back and prove he is worthy of the starting job.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.