EAST LANSING, MICH. Michigan State timekeeper tells story

The Big Ten concluded that no mistake was made in the Michigan game two years ago.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan State timekeeper who gave the Spartans the second they needed to upset Michigan in 2001 says he has no regrets about the much-questioned call.
Bob Stehlin ruled that there was one second remaining on the game clock, giving Michigan State the break it needed for a come-from-behind 26-24 win.
Stehlin said he knew right away he had entered into the lore of the fierce intrastate rivalry, which is being re-enacted Saturday when No. 9 Michigan State plays No. 11 Michigan at Spartan Stadium.
Disappeared
The call on Nov. 3, 2001, ended 21 years of anonymity on the job for Stehlin. But as Michigan State fans celebrated and Michigan backers complained, Stehlin said he stayed out of sight until the crowds and reporters were gone.
"Trying to collect myself," the now-retired 60-year-old told the Detroit Free Press for a story today.
Stehlin said he didn't want to see anybody that day.
"All I wanted was a beer," he said.
The call came with the Spartans driving, but out of timeouts.
On second-and-goal at the 2 yard line and 17 seconds on the clock, quarterback Jeff Smoker couldn't find a receiver and tried to run the ball in. Michigan stopped him at the 1, with 12 seconds on the clock and time running.
Smoker rushed to get his team back on the line, took the snap and spiked the ball to stop the clock. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and many other Wolverines partisans said time had expired. Stehlin said otherwise.
The call gave Smoker the chance he needed. On the next play, he tossed a 2-yard game-wining touchdown pass to T.J. Duckett.
Aftermath
Afterward, Michigan State's athletic department tried to shield Stehlin from unwanted attention.
"They protected me," Stehlin said.
But about a month later, Stehlin got word that someone had filed Freedom of Information Act request with the university for his employee records.
"I became paranoid," he said. "What was going to happen to my life, my house, my car?"
All along, Stehlin said he felt he did the right thing.
"If it had been Michigan in that situation, they would've had the second," he said.
Big Ten officials reviewed the game and said they found nothing wrong.
"We could find nothing that suggested there had been a mistake made," said the conference's coordinator of football officials, David Parry.
The conference changed the rules the following season and placed the timekeeping responsibilities with a neutral official on the field. Parry said the Big Ten had been talking about the change for some time before Stehlin's call.