Champaign, Ill. - Mel Tucker and the Spartans staged their biggest win of the season on Saturday at Illinois. But even in victory, Spartan fans were wringing their hands about a late-game strategic decision which nearly blew up in the Spartans’ faces.

“We came out on offense, defense and special teams and we were very aggressive,” Tucker said.

The Spartans stayed aggressive in the final minute, almost to their own detriment. Michigan State’s decision to attempt a pass on third-and-goal from the 14-yard line with 1:14 remaining and Illinois out of time outs lingered as a radical, and perhaps foolish, choice for the Spartans.

If Michigan State had run the ball, and been stopped short of the goal line, the Spartans would have been able to bleed the clock down to about :30 seconds remaining before presumably accepting a delay of game penalty and attempting a field goal on fourth down. Provided the Spartans didn’t fumble, this choice would have given Michigan State a chance to put the game out of reach with an 11-point lead with a successful field goal.

Miss the field goal, and Illinois would have had the ball at its own 20-yard line with 80 yards to cover, in :30 seconds - a low chance of success for an Illini team built on ground warfare.

Due to the incompletion, Michigan State attempted a 31-yard field goal with 1:06 remaining. That attempt, by walk-on transfer Ben Patton, failed. And that’s when the gasps and groans grew louder. This left Illinois within eight points of the Spartans, 80 yards from the end zone, with 1:06 to play.

“We were trying to score a touchdown, obviously, and trying to see what we could do to get it in the end zone,” Tucker said. “At the same time, we were working the clock down the best we could and being aggressive, trying to close the game out.

“We were in excellent position for a field goal opportunity and it didn’t work out, so we had to go back out and play defense.”

COMP’S TAKE:

Other things to take into consideration on Tucker’s decision to throw the ball on third-and-goal with more than a minute to play and Illinois out of time outs:

* Patton had missed an extra point earlier in the game, but he made a 21-yarder into the wind in the first quarter.

* Patton was 1-for-2 on field goals for the season, prior to this missed attempt in the final stages of this game.

* Michigan State came out of this game just 2-of-6 on field goal attempts for the year.

* MSU’s second-string, walk-on, freshman long snapper, Michael Donovan, was horrific last week at Michigan. And he blew a short snap at the end of regulation in the victory over Wisconsin three weeks ago, which landed Michigan State in overtime.

Donovan was decent in this game, and apparently improved during practice, but he was not reliable.

* Add strong wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour to the equation and it’s understandable why the coaches were shy about playing for three.

During MSU’s time out before third down, Tucker, offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, and other staff members discussed the options.

Michigan State could run the ball, play for the field goal, and bleed the clock to :30 seconds, for better or worse.

Or pass the ball, and take the risk of leaving :39 extra seconds on the clock on an incompletion, plus the risk of an interception or a sack/fumble. But in throwing the ball, Michigan State retains destiny in its own hands to clinch victory right then and there with a touchdown, and erase the specter of an iffy field goal attempt.

Tucker chose to be aggressive. He didn’t want to put his chips on the kicking game. He wanted to go for the win, through the air, and gamble that those :39 seconds wouldn’t bite him.

Johnson came up with a pass play which seemed to surprise the Illinois defense. Tight end Daniel Barker, who transferred to Michigan State from Illinois during the off-season, was wide open on a corner route. If Michigan State QB Payton Thorne had seen Barker, and delivered an accurate pass, and Barker had caught it, the aggressive gambit would have seemed daring and brilliant.

Thorne said he is supposed to read short-to-long on that pass play and selected the underneath route to Elijah Collins. Thorne felt immediate pressure from a defensive tackle who came free on a stunt. Thorne said he never even looked at Barker, and frankly didn’t have time to.

Thorne’s pass for Collins fell short, incomplete. Even if Collins had caught it, it’s doubtful he would have been able to cover 10 yards after the catch for a touchdown on third-and-goal.

Was the decision to throw the ball an unorthodox one? Yes. But I reject notions that it’s a sign of bad coaching.

The fact that Michigan State was leading by eight points late in the game, and led by 16 early in the fourth quarter, on the road, against No. 14 Illinois, in the biggest home game the Illini have had in 10 or maybe 15 years, and the fact that Michigan State contained the Illinois ground attack, the fact that Michigan State established a respectable ground game against one of the nation’s best run defenses, and the fact that Michigan State played sound, varied, complex pass defense is indicative of outstanding coaching from the time the Spartans entered the bus in Ann Arbor last week to the time they took the field in Champaign, and through 58 minutes and :50 seconds of football at Memorial Stadium.

This wasn’t good or passable coaching which delivered Michigan State into an 8-point lead in the final minute of the game. This was exquisite coaching for six days of prep and 59 minutes of game-time football. This was outstanding management of a program’s culture, a team’s focus and heartbeat, terrific game-planning and good play calling throughout the afternoon.

If Illinois had come back to score a touchdown, convert a 2-point conversion and win in overtime, then Tucker’s decision to pass the ball on third down would have been a single bad choice which spoiled six great days of preparation and 58-plus minutes of quality football which delivered Michigan State to a place in the final moments of the game than none of us, or you, expected in the first place.

Coaching is so much more than a single decision on a play call during a time out with a minute remaining. It’s more than clock management. To a greater degree, coaching is about the other 120 hours of preparation during the week; the game-planning, implementation of the game plan, and in-game adjustments. And it’s about psychologically delivering a team from the elation or despair of the previous week and into the proper mindset for this week’s test.

Tucker and his staff were aces this week in driving this team and program away from last week’s carnage and into the winner’s circle for this game. It’s silly to give them a flunking grade because maybe they didn’t use their blinker properly on the final turn. The rest of the voyage was close to perfection.