BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — They all contributed to Big Ten championships. They all played in Rose Bowls. They all eventually chose coaching as a profession. And, today, they are all toiling as graduate assistants at Wisconsin.
Antonio Fenelus, Jeff Duckworth, Pat Muldoon and Kyle Costigan have much in common. Especially this week in advance of the Badgers' Big Ten opener. They all played against Michigan State.
Game experience against the Spartans is non-existent on the 2016 roster. All but one of UW's fifth-year seniors were redshirting in 2012, the last time these teams met.
Wide receiver Reggie Love appeared in five games, mostly on special teams, but didn't see action against Michigan State. (Love wound up redshirting in 2013.)
A foot injury sidelined linebacker Vince Biegel for all but the first two non-conference games in '12. Biegel was later granted a medical redshirt.
Quarterback Bart Houston, safety Leo Musso, tailback Dare Ogunbowale, tight end Eric Steffes and long snapper Connor Udelhoven all redshirted that season.
If asked, Fenelus, Duckworth, Muldoon and Costigan can fill in the blanks on the Spartans: a timely inquiry since the Badgers and the Spartans will renew their rivalry Saturday in East Lansing.
So they were asked, "What's the first thing that comes to mind about Michigan State?"
"We knew it was going to be a dogfight that would come down to the wire," said Fenelus, a first-team All-Big Ten cornerback (2010-11). "We knew it was going to be tough."
"They're always consistent with what they do defensively," said Duckworth, a clutch wide receiver. "They've been doing the same stuff over the years and obviously it works.
"They've got a blueprint for success. They play a good physical style of football."
"It was going to be a battle no matter what — a slugfest," said Muldoon, a gritty defensive end. "One team will gain momentum and then it will swing back and forth.
"You can't get too high or too low. You can never feel comfortable with the lead. And you can never feel like you're out of it if you're down. You have to keep battling. You have 60 minutes to play."
"A fistfight," said Costigan, a first-team All-Big Ten offensive guard (2014).
Don't take it literally. That was not Costigan's intention.
"They're a bunch of physical guys and they line up and play, and that's what I like about playing teams like that," said Costigan who's serving as a GA with UW's strength and conditioning staff.
"They're not going to surprise you with any pressures or anything like that. There are no tricks. They're going to line up — you against me — and it's going to be a fistfight.
"They give you their best shot and you give them yours. Those have always been the funnest games that I've been a part of. Line up and play and whoever is the better man comes out on top."
Win, lose or draw, Costigan loved no-frills football.
And the last time the Badgers and Spartans played, it was a draw after 60 minutes. But Michigan State pulled out the win in overtime.
"That was a game that you laid everything out on the field," Costigan said. "Obviously, we didn't end up on top.
"Not that I have a personal vendetta or anything like that against Michigan State, but I felt we could have won that game and should have won that game.
"I feel like there is some unfinished business."
•  •  •  •
Oct. 27, 2012 at Camp Randall Stadium
Michigan State 16, Wisconsin 13 (OT)
When the Spartans and Badgers collided in Madison, they were the Big Ten's winningest programs over the past three seasons with 16 conference victories each.
Quarterback Joel Stave completed 9 of 11 passes for 127 yards and one touchdown — 31 yards to tight end Jacob Pedersen — in the first half, staking Wisconsin to a 7-3 lead.
Despite elite tailbacks like Le'Veon Bell, Montee Ball and James White, neither team could run the ball the first 30 minutes. The Spartans had 14 yards on 14 carries; the Badgers had 23 on 14 rushes.
On the first play of the third quarter, Michigan State defensive end William Gholston sacked and planted Stave into the turf. Stave broke his collarbone and was replaced by Danny O'Brien.
"We were playing so well when Joel became the starter and I thought we were going to turn the season around," Costigan said. "That's why there's still such a bad taste in your mouth.
"They (the Spartans) took away the run so you have to beat them in some other ways, and we could have done that if Joel would have stayed healthy."
With Michigan State doing next to nothing on offense behind quarterback Andrew Maxwell, the Badgers took a 10-3 lead on Kyle French's 39-yard field goal with 6:06 to play in the fourth quarter.
On the subsequent possession, Muldoon sacked Maxwell for a loss of seven yards. But the Spartans got out of a second-and-17 hole with a 20-yard completion from Maxwell to Tony Lippett.
That was the turning point for Maxwell, who engineered a 12-play, 75-yard drive culminating with a five-yard toss to Bell on third-and-4 for the game-tying touchdown with 68 seconds left.
In overtime, the Badgers lost one yard on three plays and French kicked a 43-yard field goal. But Maxwell answered with a scoring pass to Bennie Fowler on third-and-8 from the UW 12.
"He (Maxwell) put it on the money to beat us," Muldoon said.
The Badgers had won 21 consecutive home games, including 12 straight in the Big Ten
Reflecting on that painful loss, Costigan said, "We had a lot of games like that."
The Badgers also lost in overtime to Ohio State and Penn State in 2012.
But nothing was more painful than how the Badgers lost on their last trip to East Lansing.
"That was definitely one of the harder losses," Muldoon said.
•  •  •  •
October 22, 2011 at Spartan Stadium
Michigan State 37, Wisconsin 31
In a first half of wild momentum swings, the Badgers led 14-0 after the first quarter but the Spartans responded with 23 unanswered points in the second quarter.
The MSU explosion included a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone by the aforementioned Fowler for a touchdown with 37 seconds remaining in the half.
The fireworks were just beginning.
After falling behind 31-17 at the start of the fourth quarter, quarterback Russell Wilson rallied the Badgers with a couple of scores to knot the game at 31-all with 1:26 to play in regulation.
Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins wasn't content on settling for overtime. After picking up a first down with short passes to Bell, Cousins was sacked by Brendan Kelly and fumbled.
"We should have had it," Fenelus lamented.
But it was recovered instead by offensive tackle Dan France on the MSU 24.
"I remember Coach (Chris) Ash brought it up that Sunday when we were watching film," Fenelus said of the former UW defensive coordinator who is now the head coach at Rutgers.
"He said, 'You see that's why you always have to get to the ball at all times. You never know what can happen. That one play could have changed the whole game.'
"It's something that I keep in mind now and I'm always trying to coach players on it. Be around the ball. When you're around the ball, good things happen."
They did for the Spartans. On third-and-one from the UW 44, Cousins lofted a Hail Mary pass into the end zone that bounced off B.J. Cunningham's face mask into the hands of Keith Nichol.
"I couldn't watch it," said Muldoon, who was on the sideline after being replaced for an extra defender (wide receiver Jared Abbrederis). Muldoon never looked up. "I just heard the crowd."
"I remember me and Mike (Taylor) trying to pull him (Nichol) back before he got in the end zone," said Fenelus. "I had a bad feeling when they were reviewing it."
It was initially ruled that Nichol was short of the goal line.
But the call was overturned after a replay review.
"I remember the bedlam of them running around," Muldoon said, "and us walking off the field."
"It was a pretty tough ride back (to Madison)," said Fenelus.
The following week at Ohio State, the Badgers lost in mind-numbing fashion again, 33-29, on quarterback Braxton Miller's 40-yard TD pass to Devin Smith with 20 seconds left.
A replay review confirmed that Miller didn't step over the line of scrimmage.
"That was a tough two weeks to overcome," Fenelus said.
But they got their payback against Michigan State in the inaugural Big Ten championship game.
"We knew that we should have won that game (in East Lansing)," said Fenelus. "I wouldn't necessarily say it was revenge. We wanted to go to the Rose Bowl. That was motivation enough.
"We just got them when it counted the most."
•  •  •  •
December 3, 2011 at Lucas Oil Stadium
Wisconsin 42, Michigan State 39
Duckworth was hopeful for a second chance after the Hail Mary.
"When we lost to them," he said, "we kind of had it in the back of our minds that we'd be able to see them again down the road and it worked out that way."
Duckworth scored the game's first touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Wilson.
"It was a quick under route," he said. "They were bringing pressure and Russell found me."
After a fast start, a 21-7 first quarter lead, the Badgers had another second-quarter meltdown. Michigan State outscored them 22-0.
"I remember the words of our defensive coordinator (Ash) at halftime," Muldoon said. "And it's something you probably can't publish. He told us how we were playing and it was true.
"The offense won the game for us."
The Badgers pulled it out with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. One play in particular still stands out: Wilson's 36-yard pass to Duckworth on fourth down to keep the game-winning drive alive.
"Russell bought time and gave me a chance," Duckworth said. "He was always big at throwing jump balls and giving guys the opportunity to make plays. He threw it up and I made a play."
To this day, Fenelus enjoys impersonating Gus Johnson's play-by-play call on the completion.
"I'll always scream that in the office, 'Jeff Duuucckwoooorth,'" said Fenelus, over-modulating, for effect, like the excitable Johnson tends to do.
Duckworth's catch was a difference-maker. So was the roughing the punter penalty on Michigan State's Isaiah Lewis that wiped out a long Keshawn Martin return. That sealed the win for Wisconsin.
"We had such a good team that year," said Costigan, who was injured and didn't travel to Indy. "I know people still think we were two plays away from going to the national championship game.
"But that's football. That's what makes it so fun to watch. On any given day … in any given game … at any given time … so many different things can happen."
Especially in this feisty series between the Badgers and Spartans.
"Both of our programs pride ourselves on being physical," said Costigan, adding that the players take on a "four-quarter" mentality of grinding and imposing their will on the opponent.
"You respect them because you get to pit your best stuff against theirs. You might not like each other but you're going to respect each other.
"Fifty years from now, you're going to remember the guy (across from you) because you gave your best shot against his. It's the unspoken side of football."
Just line up and play.
