Last Saturday night, Setpember 23, 2006, the Michigan State Spartans football team accomplished something amazing. Unfortunately, for those of us who sat through the game, it was just another heartbreaking loss for a fan base that has witnessed late game collapses frequently under the John L. Smith regime.

With a 37-21 lead, a wet field and a great deal of emotion from the crowd, it would seem near impossible that Notre Dame could come back. And then it began... a scene all to familiar to Spartan fans.

It starts and ends with Coach Smith and Offensive Coordinator, Dave Baldwin. Too often when MSU has a substantial lead, they play "not to lose," as opposed to going for the jugular. They go into a shell and Drew Stanton runs the ball on seemingly every play.

With the big lead, the Spartans started getting penalized. Whether it was personal fouls or holding penalties, they managed to end up in a 4th and 42 predicament on a drive that could have salted away the victory. Instead, Brandon Fields, MSU's painfully inconsistent punter – he waffles between punts of 75 yards and 15 yards on any given Saturday -- continued the demise with a weak punt, giving Notre Dame solid field position.

After some mind boggling turnovers, Notre Dame closed the gap to 37-33 on the mistake prone Spartans. Then came the play that inspired me to conjure up images of Vin Scully following Kirk Gibson's World Series home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The "I Can't Believe What I Just Saw," moment occurred when MSU's kick returner, in a four-point game, decided to kneel on the 12 yard line after receiving the ball, rather than running upfield. This mind numbing decision led to poor field position, increased the noise level from the Fighting Irish fans and swung the momentum entirely to Notre Dame.

The explanation for this kneel down from the Spartan coaching staff was connected to their concern regarding a potential onside kick, but that does not excuse the returner going down with at least 10 yards of open real estate ahead of him.

Once this play occurred, I knew that the game was over, and following an ND score and another Stanton interception, the third largest crowd in Spartans' history went home soaked and befuddled.

The only other play that draws a comparison to the now famous kneel down involved the Detroit Lions, when former head coach Marty Morningwheg decided to take the wind instead of the ball in overtime against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The Bears went on to kick the game winning field goal on that first drive and the rest is history.

The most difficult part of this whole Spartans' experience came the next morning when my three-year-old son, who stayed up late to watch the game and went to bed when the score was 37-21, said to my wife, "Dad will be so happy that the Spartans won!"

The next morning as he came down the stairs in his Michigan State jersey, I had to explain to him what it is like to be a Spartans' football fan. I am still not sure he believes that they actually lost the game. A feeling similar to the many who watched in shock as Michigan State managed to, once again, snare defeat from the jaws of victory!