Plenty of players from the Buckeye State returned to their home state to disappoint thousands in Ohio Stadium and help MSU prevail Michigan State kicker Michael Geiger (4) celebrates his 41-yard field goal, which gave the Spartans a 17-4 victory over Ohio State as time expired Saturday at Ohio Stadium.(Photo: Adam Cairns/TNS) COLUMBUS, Ohio – Michael Geiger nailed imaginary game-winning kicks like that as a kid in Toledo, and the unfortunate team on the other end was always Ohio State. It became “personal,” Geiger said, when Ohio State didn’t offer him a scholarship. And that was true for all of the surprise game captains Michigan State sent to midfield for the coin toss Saturday at Ohio Stadium — fifth-year seniors and Ohioans Connor Cook, Donavon Clark, Joel Heath and Trevon Pendleton. This was personal for MSU freshman running back LJ Scott, too, even though the power-running product of Hubbard, Ohio, did have an Ohio State offer. “It doesn’t really mean nothing but I hear the (Ohio State) fans say, ‘We wanted you. I bet you wish you would have came here,’ ” Scott said after the Spartans’ 17-14 upset win Saturday at Ohio State, aided late by key runs by him. “But I’m actually good where I’m at. And I’m glad I made the decision I did.” The Big Ten East championship is now one win over Penn State from belonging to the Spartans, and their hopes of landing in the College Football Playoff are very real. Thoughts shifted there quickly in the wake of the Spartans’ dominating up front on both sides, overcoming a couple critical mistakes, then chasing Geiger all over that rain-soaked field turf as his 41-yard field goal sailed true as time expired. But Saturday’s stunner (to all but the Spartans) in the season’s highest-rated college football game, in front of a stadium-record crowd of 108,975, didn’t just revive the lofty goals of this season. Ohioan Mark Dantonio’s program made a statement, in a state he will always lean on heavily for players, in a stadium where he once won a national title as a defensive coordinator…
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