Connor Cook sat in a corner locker in the visiting team room at AT&T Stadium pulling his Michigan State jersey off his pads for the final time and trying his best to put a positive spin on what had just unfolded.
Cook turned to backup quarterbacks Tyler O'Connor and Damion Terry sitting beside him to help digest the 38-0 loss that ended one of the best eras in Michigan State history. It didn’t feel right.
“The only thing he said is, ‘It’s not supposed to happen this way,’” O’Connor said. “It really didn’t seem like it was supposed to happen that way.