PISCATAWAY, Nj. -- After battling back from an early deficit, the Michigan State Spartans (6-0, 2-0 in Big Ten), led by quarterback Connor Cook, fought past the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-3, 0-2 in Big Ten) with a late score by LJ Scott to grab a 31-24 victory in conference play.

The Scarlet Knights were given 43 seconds to equalize from their own 40, and after getting inside MSU's 40 yard-line, QB Chris Laviano was sacked to force fourth down. Unaware of the circumstances, Laviano spiked the ball with three ticks left on the game clock to turn it over on downs and hand the Spartans a worrying victory over the 2-3 Knights.

Connor Cook threw for 357 yards on the day, along with two scores, however he tossed a crucial first-half pick in the redzone, just his second-thrown interception of the 2015 season. Cook did lead Michigan State to multiple crucial drives down the stretch that led to the collapse of Rutgers' strong opposition to the fourth-ranked Spartans' challenge.

Passing turned out to be the name of the game on both sides, as Laviano threw for an efficient 208 yards and three TDs. Leonte Carroo, back from a 25-day suspension for assault charges that were dropped this week, was on the receiving end of all three touchdowns along with seven total catches for 134 yards.

Aaron Burbridge was MSU's counterpart to Carroo, catching nine passes for 146 yards. He hauled in the pivotal 25-yard throw from Cook on fourth down of Michigan State's last drive, giving the Spartans a chance at a late score, which they got from LJ Smith.

Smith carried the ball nine times for 42 yards on Saturday, scoring twice for the Michigan State offense.

MSU opened with the only first-quarter touchdown, but Rutgers answered with a pair of Carroo scores to grab a 14-10 lead by halftime. The first was set up by a 72-yard Paul James scamper down to the Spartans' six.

Scott and DeAnthony Arnett scored for Michigan State to claim a 24-14 lead in the third, but Rutgers close the gap back to one possession with the last of Carroo's three monster touchdowns. 

Michigan State held Rutgers to a 22-yard field goal on a long fourth-quarter drive with just about five minutes remaining, setting up MSU's game-winning trudge downfield that ended with a three-yard Smith TD with 0:43 remaining. 

Laviano and the Rutgers offense got the ball at the 40 after a kick out of bounds from the Michigan State special teams, which struggled all night. After a completion to Andre Patton with 27 seconds to go, two incompletions led to a key third down in Michigan State territory with 0:14 to go. 

The Spartans D-Line attacked Laviano on third down, leading to a 10-yard Malik McDowell sack. As Rutgers rushed to the line for fourth down and their final opportunity to tie up the score, Laviano spiked the ball, unaware of the implications of losing their final down. 

Michigan State - now off two losses that were too close for comfort - will certainly drop further in the AP and Coaches polls, and they need to get their act together before facing red-hot Michigan next Saturday.

Rutgers played well throughout the game, but once again couldn't hold it together in the final moments and coughed up loss number three. They face Indiana next week in more Big-Ten action.

Note: Rutgers blocked an MSU field goal in the first quarter, continuing their reputation for leading the nation in special teams play the last decade, with the most blocked kicks as well as the fiery return game of Janarion Grant. Grant had 86 yards on four returns Saturday.