Northwestern upsets No. 16 Michigan State 39-31 in 3OT

As the fireworks went off at Ryan Field on Saturday night, Northwestern celebrated its third-straight win —  and its second overtime win in the last two weeks —  as it upset No. 16 Michigan State 39-31 in triple-overtime.

While Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke was spot-on all night — leading his team 88 yards downfield for the game-tying drive with 25 seconds left in regulation — the sophomore quarterback threw an interception in the end zone in triple overtime to seal a Wildcats win.

Northwestern students storm the field after its triple OT, 39-31, win over No. 16 MSU. pic.twitter.com/rQNrqbPTf2

— Jon LeBlanc (@JLeBlanc_21) October 28, 2017

In the third overtime, facing a first-and-10 and his own 25-yard line, Lewerke had the ball knocked loose and decided to heave one downfield into the end zone across his body in the direction of his receiver, but ended up in the waiting arms of Northwestern’s Nate Hall.

Lewerke finished with a school-record 445 passing yards. He completed 39-of-57 passes with four touchdowns and one interception.

Michigan State needed a touchdown and a two-point conversion on that possession to only tie the game after Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Flynn Nagel in the first possession of the third overtime. Northwestern’s Cameron Green hauled in the two-point conversion.

Thorson was 33-of-48 for 356 yards and two touchdowns. Northwestern running back Justin Jackson had 17 carries for 41 yards and one touchdown. Jackson reached 1,000 career carries during the game, only the fifth player in Big Ten history to accomplish that feat.

Michigan State dropped to 6-2, 4-1 in the Big Ten as Northwestern improved to 5-3, 3-2 in the conference. Northwestern will take on Nebraska next week on the road as Michigan State will head home to Spartan Stadium to face No. 2 Penn State.

Penn State lost to No. 6 Ohio State 39-38 on Saturday.

More college football coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Wild play: OSU interception turns into Penn State TD
• Giant-killer Iowa State upsets No. 4 TCU
• Tulsa WR has TD taken away for high-stepping
• Quarterback change coming for Michigan?