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Rutgers spikes ball on fourth down, loses to Michigan State (Video)

sam cooper
College football writer

Saturday night’s Michigan State-Rutgers game ended on a huge mixup for the Scarlet Knights.

After the fourth-ranked Spartans took a 31-24 lead with 43 seconds to play, Rutgers regained possession without any timeouts. The Scarlet Knights moved into Michigan State territory, but quarterback Chris Laviano was sacked by MSU’s Shilique Calhoun on a third down play.

With the clock ticking down inside 10 seconds, Laviano looked to stop the clock with a spike. There was one problem, however: it was fourth down! Laviano, unaware of the situation, spiked it anyway, resulting in a turnover on downs to end the game.

Laviano got the snap off with a few seconds remaining and had the time to set up a Hail Mary from midfield. That would have at least given the Scarlet Knights a chance to tie the game.

But alas, it went the other way, leaving interim head coach Norries Wilson completely exasperated.

When addressing reporters after the game, Wilson shouldered the blame for the gaffe.

"At the end of the game, the clock management is 100 percent on the guy in charge and I'm the guy in charge," Wilson said. "So I mismanaged the situation. Chris Laviano did what he was told to do and I told him the wrong thing. So don't think that he screwed it up."

Laviano admitted that the coaches told him to spike the ball.

The loss dropped Rutgers to 2-3 on the season heading into next weekend’s road matchup at Indiana when head coach Kyle Flood will return from his three-game suspension.

On the other side, Michigan State improved to 6-0 with the win. Next on the schedule for the Spartans is a highly anticipated matchup with in-state rival Michigan (5-1) in Ann Arbor.

For more Rutgers news, visit ScarletNation.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!