“I don’t know if we would have stopped East Lansing High School today,” Narduzzi said at the post-game press conference.

Northwestern scored a touchdown on its first possession, and the Spartans answered with one on the next drive. Stop. Rewind. Repeat.

The teams would trade touchdowns for the rest of the game, with the Wildcats never leading by more than seven, and the Spartans never leading, period.

“It was crazy,” junior quarterback Brian Hoyer said. “They would get a long touchdown pass, and then Javon breaks a long run. I’m just laughing on the sideline, thinking how far is this going to go on.”

Junior running back Javon Ringer had the biggest day offensively for the Spartans, rushing for 185 yards and scoring three touchdowns on a mere 12 carries. He also had six receptions for 54 yards.

“I don’t care how many yards or touchdowns I had,” Ringer said. “I would have been fine with none of this as long as we got the win.”

Northwestern stuck to its guns in overtime, and it only took Bacher three passes to get into the end zone when he connected with running back Omar Conteh for a 12-yard touchdown.

Defensively, the Spartans had their worst performance of the season.

They missed tackles left and right. They dropped four potential interceptions. They weren’t prepared mentally or physically, Narduzzi said.

Now, the Spartans have to face the fact that they are looking very similar to how they looked when they collapsed the past two seasons – a hot start with a cold finish.

“We’re going to see where we’re at now,” Hoyer said.

“We’re going to see who steps up and becomes leaders on this team, and doesn’t allow the falter that happened the past couple of years.”