play1:22Replays of final play for MSU – UMReplays of final play for MSU – UM
Michigan State stuns Michigan as time expires (2:16)”SportsCenter” Highlight of the Night: On the final play of the game, with 10 seconds remaining, Michigan’s punter fumbles the snap, and the ball is recovered by Michigan State’s Jalen Watts-Jackson, who takes it in for a touchdown and a 27-23 victory. (2:16)
Ten years ago, Michigan and Michigan State produced one of the most unforgettable finishes college football has ever seen.
In an instant, two unlikely figures became forever linked — and the faces of that play: Spartans backup safety Jalen Watts-Jackson and Michigan fan Chris Baldwin, a sophomore at the school.
But in his first season, coach Jim Harbaugh had quickly turned around a Wolverines team that had gone 5-7 the year before under Brady Hoke. With a 23-21 lead, Harbaugh was 10 seconds away from his first signature win.
In those final 10 seconds, Watts-Jackson became a Michigan State legend. He caught Michigan’s muffed punt out of the air and crashed into the end zone for an improbable game-winning touchdown — dislocating his hip as he did.
Just a few feet away, standing in the third row of the student section in that end zone, Baldwin put his hands on his head in disbelief. ESPN’s cameras caught the reaction, creating a viral image that cemented a new phrase in the sports lexicon: “Surrender Cobra.”
As Michigan and Michigan State prepare to meet again for the 118th time Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC), ESPN went inside that iconic moment — through the words of those who witnessed it firsthand.
Baldwin: That was our first “College GameDay.” Being big football fans, that’s the crown jewel. We got in line to get in around 3 p.m. on Friday.
Worley: They told us tents weren’t going to be allowed. Then we ended up being the only ones without a tent. So we just camped out in lawn chairs and stayed up all night.
Damron: We were all pumped. When they opened the gates, we walked in and easily got on the front row.
Worley: Steve Spurrier was the guest picker. He had retired that week. He picked Michigan. We thought it was going to be one of the best days ever.
Watts-Jackson: I wasn’t even supposed to play. But the day before we travel, Coach D is like, “Hey, man, we might need you. Are you going to be able to play?” I’m like, “Hell yeah, I’m playing.”
Watts-Jackson’s dad, Rick Jackson: I live like 20 minutes from Michigan. When Jalen went to Michigan State, I had to throw all my Michigan gear away. … I wasn’t really expecting Jalen to play, but we went to the game to support the team.
Watts-Jackson: I roomed with [running back] Gerald Holmes in the hotel. I’m kind of down because I got hurt. He’s like, “Bro, I don’t know, I got a feeling that you’re going to do something special tomorrow.”
Clinging to a 23-21 lead, the Wolverines came through with a big stop late in the fourth quarter. Dymonte Thomas batted down Connor Cook’s desperation heave on fourth-and-19, giving Michigan the ball near midfield with 1:47 remaining. The Spartans had only one timeout left. After three straight runs, Harbaugh called timeout to set up a punt with 10 seconds to go.
Miller: It’s something you work on, but once you finally line it up in a real game that nobody has ever had to do before, it’s a little bit of jumbled chaos.
Watts-Jackson: My position in that punt block was almost like a decoy. I was supposed to run straight towards the end guy and then run out to make him reach towards me, and then we shoot somebody through the gap.
Dantonio: I told them we have to block it and return it. Don’t be offsides. But it doesn’t matter if you rough the punter. Go get him. We might get a flag. But that guy was going to get hit.
Miller: I blocked a lot of punts in high school. You pick a spot, get in a track stance, find the angle and go all out. That’s all I ever did in high school. And that moment felt very similar.
Dantonio: Why Michigan didn’t come out in a tight punt formation just to get the ball off is beyond me.
Michigan All-American tight end Jake Butt: Those gunners outside should have been checked down. But I also understand where Coach [Harbaugh] was coming from. We didn’t need to block the edges because, mathematically, they couldn’t get there. Usain Bolt could’ve gotten there. They couldn’t.
Watts-Jackson: I’m not going to lie. Of course it’s not over until the end. But in my head it’s like, damn man, we really outplayed these guys, but we lost this game. At the same time, you had film that next day and you do not want to be that guy on film lollygagging that last play and be made an example of. So I’m going to do my job. Whatever happens, happens.
For Michigan, the unthinkable happened next. Punter Blake O’Neill dropped the ball, prompting ESPN announcer Sean McDonough to shout, “Whoa! He has trouble with the snap.” O’Neill picked it up, but before he could do anything with it, multiple Spartans, led by Miller and Sowards, crashed into him, popping the ball up into the air.
Butt: I wasn’t even nervous in the shield. We’ve done this a hundred times. But you can always hear the thump of the punt. You can hear a thump. I didn’t hear a thump. I heard the crowd noise shift, and you could sense the nervousness. I’m like, something’s not right.
Miller: After I saw him drop the ball, I threw my body in there. I don’t know how the physics of it led the ball to land in Jalen’s hands.
Watts-Jackson: As I come off the edge, I don’t know what’s going on. Then I see the ball floating in the air. I don’t know what made me just reach out with one hand. I just take off running.
Worley: I remember having a glimmer of hope maybe that we can tackle him at the 1-yard line when the clock hits zero.
Butt: I’m chasing him, but I knew where we were on the field. I knew if I tackled him, he was going to be in the end zone. So I tried to punch the ball out. I was hoping to just get a fumble out of the back of the end zone. I felt the ball move. I just didn’t get enough of it.
Watts-Jackson: I’m thinking of my celebration, what dance I’m going to break out. But as I’m diving, I lift my left leg up and [Butt] wrapped me up by the leg. So I couldn’t bring my leg down. We both fell on my knee and my leg just popped out of my hip.
Watts-Jackson’s touchdown lifted the Spartans to a miraculous 27-23 victory as time expired. Jackson, his friend Reginald Haynes, Watts-Jackson’s uncle, Julian Watts, and his pregnant fiancée, Kia, were on the other side of the stadium. With the game presumably over prior to the punt, Julian and Kia started walking up the stairs to beat the crowd. Rick walked with them to make sure they made it out.
Jackson: Then [Julian] says, “Did you just see that? I think Jalen just scored.” I’m like, how in the hell did that happen? Because it was in Michigan Stadium, they weren’t replaying it. … I didn’t even know he was injured until I went to the locker room.
Watts-Jackson: I know my hip is broken. It’s dislocated. Something’s not right. When I’m going down, I throw the ball. I don’t throw it out of excitement. And as soon as I throw the ball, I just see white jerseys piling on me.
Watts-Jackson: The first person I remember was [defensive lineman] Lawrence Thomas. He was like, “You did it, you did it.” Then I blacked out for a second. [Running back] LJ Scott was trying to pick me up, and I’m telling him like, “No, no, my hip.” They carted me off the field and put me straight in the ambulance.
Jackson: I go to the locker room. I still haven’t seen the play. I see one of Jalen’s friends that played little league football with him, Tyson Smith. I ask him, “Where’s Jalen?” He says, “I don’t know, but he the man right now.”
Butt: I’m truly telling you, it was a psychedelic experience. It’s like my vision was changed. The colors looked different. Even walking to the locker room, it was like, am I in a dream? Did that really happen?
Watts-Jackson: I remember the ambulance ride being super long. It felt like we were in traffic forever. I’m fully dressed, wearing everything except my helmet. They were doing whatever they could to calm me down … then we hit this bump, and I instantly got relief. I heard a pop. The bump popped my hip back into place.
Watts-Jackson: I was kind of down in the dumps going into the surgery. I’m just thinking like, damn, I’m not going to be playing for a while. Am I ever going to walk the same? Am I going to be able to run again? They compared my injury to Bo Jackson’s, and he didn’t come back from his injury to play football again.
Sowards: I texted Jalen that night to go to a friend’s house. No text back. I’m like what the heck? Maybe he’s too busy? On Sunday, when we came in to watch film and get a lift in, that’s when we found out he was still [in Ann Arbor] and was hurt pretty bad.
Baldwin: As soon as I get reception, texts come flying in from all sorts of people in my life. That evening we had “SportsCenter” on, and the anchors were standing on each side of a big screen with my picture. I started to realize that this was going to be a little more than just a few family members recognizing me on TV.
Dantonio: He came back on Wednesday. Another surreal moment, him being with his teammates for the first time since making that play.
Sowards: He was in a wheelchair. He came down and we all went crazy because that was the first time we had seen him since the game. We were chanting, “Ja-len, Ja-len …” as he was rolling down.
Watts-Jackson: The day after, I got on social media and everywhere I would see the play, I would see this picture: Chris with his hands on his head, doing the Surrender Cobra. That was the first time I had ever even heard that phrase.
Replays of final play for MSU – UMReplays of final play for MSU – UM
Miller: We were definitely a team of destiny. Beating Michigan on the way to making the playoffs was certainly sweet.
Butt: If any one thing had gone even partly wrong, we would’ve been OK. Truly, it was a nightmare scenario. Everything that had to go right for Michigan State went right. And we were on the other side of it. Even to this day, it stings.