EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Of course the story began on the sidelines. How could it not?

Tyrone Willingham will tell you reminiscing just ain't his thing. He prefers to move forward. But when he walked into Spartan Stadium, an hour before kickoff, he and son Nathaniel took a seat on the bench. He likes to say, "a little meditation is good." But not too often, not too long and certainly not today. After exactly one minute and 12 seconds of silent reflection, Willingham was done. He sprang off the bench, left emotion behind and went to meet the officials.

	Tyrone Willingham and Bobby Williams are heading in opposite directions this year.

Yeah, there was emotion involved. Maybe too much. In Willingham and Michigan State's Bobby Williams, exactly one half of the black coaches in college football were represented. And yeah, the two men are friends. But that emotion had to be contained to the sideline. As the axiom goes, coaches coach and players play. Hell, when ten yards -- the length of a first down -- is the only thing that separates the field of play from a big limestone wall, the story couldn't be contained to the sidelines.

And it wasn't.

In games built solely on emotion, people do uncharacteristic things. A Tyrone Willingham team doesn't lose its cool. But this day was, well, special. Perpetually cool Rhema McKnight threw some hands with Cedric Henry. A normally reserved Omar Jenkins mixed it up with each member of the Spartan secondary. And cornerback Preston Jackson pushed it as far as he could. During a Michigan State timeout in the third quarter, he sauntered up to the Spartan huddle, just to remind them that whatever they had planned probably wasn't going to work. Even Willingham himself departed from character and earned a sideline warning for coming onto the field.

But there was one player on his team whom Willingham didn't want to see contained any longer. After Arnaz Battle took it 60 yards to the house, Willingham had to alter his plans. Before he could embrace Williams, tell him he was happy no one was seriously hurt, Willingham had to tell Battle something that the senior receiver really needed to hear. "I never gave up on you," Willingham told Battle. "I knew you'd step up when it was time."

After answering questions for an hour, it was time for Willingham to change clothes and leave. But a group of former classmates, led by a woman named Dawn, Michigan State class of '78, leaned over the large wall outside the locker room and shouted down, "Hey Ty, remember us from Wilson Hall!?"

Willingham whipped around, looking up and grinning. "Yes I do," he said.

Behind him the equipment truck was almost packed and it was time to go. Time to go forward because even after a thrilling win at his alma mater over a dear friend, he still doesn't like to look back.

But this day, was, you know, special. The man who hates to reminisce had to make an exception just this once. In a hoarse voice, an emotionally exhausted Willingham shouted, "You guys hold on, I'll be up in a minute."

Alan Grant, a senior reporter for ESPN The Magazine, is spending the season in South Bend. Look for his regular reports on ESPN.com. E-mail him at alan.grant@espn3.com