O is for Open. It's not "getting fancy" if the play is wide, wide open. Chad Jones makes a spectacular play on the ball, preventing a game-winning TD, and what we have is a great play-call trumped by an even better play made on the pass.
They could have sneaked it, sure, but two plays in a row with Anthony Dixon, the best offensive player on MSU's roster, netted them nothing. With LSU's line loaded up against the sneak, play-action passing on third makes sense if you have to go for it on fourth anyway. (Which MSU had to.) Fancy would have been running a reverse pass; play-action pass on third and goal is something straight from the meat-and-potatoes four down modern playbook, and only offensive to those who still cringe on a first-down pass.
