EAST LANSING, Mich. For Amp Campbell, the timing couldn't have been better.
At this point last year, Michigan State's sixth-year senior cornerback thought his career might be over after breaking the sixth and seventh vertebrae in his neck during a 48-14 loss to Oregon.
Last night, she found out it was starting again. Campbell picked it up and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown with 14:08 left in the fourth quarter. That gave the Spartans a 24-17 lead and they stunned the Pac-10 Ducks, 27-20, in the season opener in front of a crowd of 72,923 at Spartan Stadium.
“I feel like a little kid right now,” Campbell said. “Everything went right for me. I was just praying that no one would catch me. I knew we needed a big game and that really helped going into our defense.
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The Spartans had struggled for the first three quarters to contain the Oregon A junior quarterback.
J. Feeley, who completed 27 of 49 passes for 343 yards and two touchdowns. Feeley, who filled in for departed star Akili Smith, gave the Ducks a 17-7 lead on a 19-yard TD pass to Tony Hartley with 9:30 left in the third quarter. But MSU's defense shut down Feeley's batteries in the crunch of the fourth quarter, when he completed just eight of 21 passes and Oregon, which ran for just 28 yards, could only manage a 43-yard field goal.
Campbell's punt, the second-longest comeback in MSU history, came with the game tied at 17-17. Oregon had moved the ball to the MSU 13 and looked like it might be poised to take the lead. But then linebacker Julian Peterson stripped backup tailback Herman Ho Ching of the ball after a two-yard loss, and Campbell broke away from the pack for his dramatic sprint to the end zone.
It was the ultimate comeback for a player who underwent spinal surgery the night of his injury and was out for the rest of the season. “I remember those nights in the hospital where I couldn't move, where I couldn't roll over to pick up the phone,” she said. “I just prayed all the time and my prayers were answered.
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Campbell was cleared to play this summer and the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility. He finally returned to the starting lineup against the Ducks to thunderous applause from the Michigan State fans. “I'm so pleased and proud of Amp in so many ways,” Michigan State coach Nick Saban said. “I've never felt lower as a coach (than) when he got hurt. I've never felt more high than when he picked up that scythe and ran it back.
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