The 2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game that was played on December 5, 2015 at

Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was ...

in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the fifth annual Big Ten Football Championship Game and it determined the 2015 champion of the Big Ten Conference. The game featured the Michigan State Spartans, champions of the East Division, and the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

, champions of the West Division. Michigan State defeated Iowa 16–13 to win its second Big Ten Championship in three years. The winner advanced to the four-team championship playoffs.

History

The 2015 Championship Game was the fifth in the Big Ten's 120-year history, and the second to feature the conference's East and West division alignment. Iowa made its first appearance in the conference championship game, while Michigan State made its third appearance ( L in 2011, W in 2013). To date, this game holds the Big Ten Football Championship Game attendance record.

Teams

Iowa

Iowa came into the Big Ten Championship Game with a 12–0 record and a #4 ranking in the College Football Playoff. The Hawkeyes were led by junior QB C.J. Beathard and 2015 Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, junior CB Desmond King, who tied the school record and led the Big Ten with 8 INT. The Hawkeyes sat atop the Big Ten West division standings wire-to-wire. They opened conference play with a hard-nosed 10-6 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, and overwhelmed the Northwestern Wildcats 40-10 in Evanston two weeks later. Iowa clinched the Big Ten West division by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers 40-20 in the home finale at

Kinnick Stadium Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds up to 69,250 peo ...

, and completed an unbeaten regular season by defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers 28-20 in Lincoln. Head coach Kirk Ferentz was named

Big Ten Coach of the Year Coaches and media of the Big Ten Conference award the following individual honors at the end of each American football, football season. In addition, the ''Chicago Tribune'' awards the Chicago Tribune Silver Football to the most valuable football p ...

for the fourth time after guiding Iowa to its first unbeaten regular season in 93 years.

Michigan State

Michigan State entered the Big Ten Championship Game with an 11–1 record and a #5 ranking in the College Football Playoff. On offense, the Spartans were led by Big Ten QB of the Year Connor Cook and Big Ten Receiver of the Year Aaron Burbridge. In the trenches, Jack Allen and Jack Conklin anchored the offensive line, while

Shilique Calhoun Shilique Calhoun (born March 20, 1992) is an American football outside linebacker who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the third round in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan State. Early years C ...

and

Malik McDowell Malik Devon McDowell (born June 20, 1996) is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. After playing college football for Michigan State, he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He su ...

led an imposing, stingy defensive unit. The Spartans survived a dramatic regular season to capture the Big Ten East division title. On October 17, they scored on the final play of the game (a botched punt attempt) at rival Michigan to win 27-23. Three weeks later, Michigan State lost its only regular season game 39-38 at Nebraska. Then, in a de facto East division title game, the Spartans defeated defending National champion and No. 2 Ohio State in Columbus 17-14, as kicker Michael Geiger drilled a 41-yard field goal as time expired.

Game summary

Statistics

Aftermath

Michigan State, who had been ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings heading into the game, jumped to third behind Alabama. Alabama beat then-No. 18 Florida 29–15 in the SEC Championship Game on the same day. As a result, Michigan State received a bid to the national semifinal against second-seeded Alabama in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Alabama defeated Michigan State 38–0 and later defeated No. 1 Clemson in the National Championship game. Iowa fell to fifth in the CFP rankings and received a bid to the Rose Bowl where they were defeated by

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

45–16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game Championship Big Ten Football Championship Game Iowa Hawkeyes football games Michigan State Spartans football games Big Ten Football Championship Game Big Ten Football Champ 2010s in Indianapolis