ARLINGTON, Texas — The telephone rang in the coaches' booth high above AT&T Stadium, and Pat Narduzzi knew it was time.

Baylor was dominating Michigan State with 11 minutes left in the third quarter of the Cotton Bowl, and the Spartans looked worn, defeated and in need of a spark. The voice on the other end of the phone knew where to find it.

“C'mon down,” Michigan State defensive end Shilique Calhoun, said, all but ordering his departing coordinator to put down his pen and paper and get dirty with the rest of the team.

Narduzzi likes to see the big picture from on high, but it has become a custom for him to join his team on the sidelines, no matter the score.

Usually, he waits until the fourth quarter. On Thursday, he had no choice. He had to get there sooner.

“Our kids get a little electric when I come down on the sidelines,” he said.

“When he comes down on the bench, it's a whole different atmosphere,” said freshman safety Montae Nicholson, a Gateway graduate.

And so he did.

From that point, Michigan State (11-2) was in charge, whittling away at two 20-point Baylor leads and finally winning the 79th Cotton Bowl, 42-41, in Narduzzi's last game before he jumps waist-deep into his next job: Head coach at Pitt.

His Pitt career starts Friday when he will watch the Panthers play Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

“It would have been a heckuva lot more difficult if we had lost this game because I probably would have been hang-doggin' it for a couple days,” he said. “It's so much easier to jump in now and get it going.”

Narduzzi has a big job waiting for him at Pitt, trying to build a winning team from one that has put together three consecutive 6-6 regular seasons. But the task won't be more daunting than what his defensive players needed to do to beat the Bears.

Baylor came into the game with the nation's No. 1 overall and scoring defense, averaging 581.3 yards and 48.8 points per game. The Bears (11-2) barely beat the yardage number (583), but fell a touchdown short of their scoring pace, thanks to getting shut out in the game's final 19 minutes, three seconds. Baylor had 603 yards through the air but lost 39 yards on five sacks.

Maybe it is fitting that the final three defensive plays of Narduzzi's eight-year Michigan State career were:

• Two sacks by Lawrence Thomas, Marcus Rush and Riley Bullough.

• An interception by Bullough. “I was anticipating the play,” he said, giving credit to Narduzzi without mentioning his name.

Rush, a defensive starter, also blocked a 43-yard field-goal attempt that would have given Baylor a nine-point lead with 1:05 left. It set up the winning 10-yard touchdown pass from Connor Cook to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left.

Afterward, Narduzzi stood among the blowing confetti, a little moisture underneath his eyes, talking about his time at Michigan State.

“I love these kids,” he said. “They will be my kids forever.”

His wife, Donna, was similarly emotional, admitting she bowed her head under the stress of the thrilling finish and couldn't watch the decisive touchdown.

“Embarrassingly enough,” she said. “That's what DVRs are for.”

“This was bittersweet. We already know we have a wonderful Pitt family to go to, but at the same time, we have to leave behind our Spartan family.”

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who has employed Narduzzi as his defensive coordinator for the past 11 years, said the game gave his assistant “a memory for life.”

“And now it's time to grow,” he said. “He'll grow as a head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. They're getting a great football coach and a great person and a guy who is going to impact young people.”

Calhoun said he is losing more than a coach.

“His players come first,” he said. “When I was in high school, I made a lot of dumb decisions. When I got to college, he started working with me each and every day to make sure my mind was in a young man's mind and it wasn't in a little boys' mind.

“I just want to thank him for all he's done and allowing me to grow here at Michigan State.”

Wide receiver/cornerback Tony Lippett perhaps said it best: “He's the soul of our defense.”

Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.

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