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Ranking Mark Dantonio’s 100 wins: MSU stuns Georgia in 3OT Outback Bowl thriller for win No. 14

It took a comeback. Then another comeback. Then some overtime fireworks.

Outback Bowl - Michigan State Spartans v Georiga Bulldogs Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

Needless to say, there have been some incredible bowl wins in Mark Dantonio’s time here.

For win No. 14, we are taking it all the way back to the first bowl win in the Dantonio era.

This link has wins No. 100-15 if you’ve missed anything.

Let’s get to it.

Win No. 14

Jan. 2, 2011: No. 12 MSU 33, No. 18 Georgia 30

After a devastating loss in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game, MSU was looking to rebound and put a cherry on top of their incredible season.

They were matched up with a 10-3 Georgia team that presented a solid challenge, putting MSU in an intriguing matchup.

Outback Bowl - Michigan State Spartans v Georiga Bulldogs Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

How They Won

Who wants to skip the first half? When MSU saw Georgia take a 16-0 lead into halftime? You do? Cool.

The Spartans began their uphill climb in the third quarter with a Le’Veon Bell touchdown and a pick-six by Darqueze Dennard, bringing the Bulldogs lead to just 16-14.

The fourth quarter is when it got crazy.

After a Blair Walsh field goal made it 19-14, Kirk Cousins and Co. responded with a touchdown drive that ended with a 7-yard score to Keith Nichol.

Outback Bowl - Michigan State Spartans v Georiga Bulldogs Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

That 20-19 Spartans lead lasted for about four second before Aaron Murray led the Bulldogs down the field for a touchdown and a 27-20 lead after the two point conversion.

Then, with 1:36 left in the game, no timeouts and 85 yards of field ahead of them, the Spartan offense generated the game-tying drive to get to…

Overtime

Overtime started off pretty not great with Kirk Cousins throwing an interception. All Georgia needed to do was bury the 42-yard field goal and WHOA MY GOODNESS IT GOES WIDE!

Blair Walsh nailed his next attempt in double overtime, and MSU followed suit with Dan Conroy hitting his 35-yard attempt.

Conroy kept his hot foot going in triple overtime, knocking home a 28-yarder.

Georgia, looking to tie the game and force a fourth overtime, went for the 47-yarder and – we know what happens next.

What This Win Meant

You couldn’t have scripted a better way for this program-changing senior class to go out.

The class that won 35 games capped off their total with an exclamation point that showed MSU can go out of their conference and beat other big-named powerhouses.

This was also MSU’s first bowl win since 2001, breaking a losing streak of five bowl losses before then. It also meant back-to-back 11-win seasons for MSU.

Outback Bowl - Michigan State Spartans v Georiga Bulldogs Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images