Thinking back on this now, I have to wonder about MSU taking their timeouts during the last goal line stand. It's a tricky situation and not obvious to me which strategy is better.
(Warning - long & winding post ahead)
Advantages to taking your TOs:
- Preserves time if you give up a score
- Rests the defensive guys between plays
- More time to scheme/coach the D
Disadvantages
- Opens up the offensive playbook - no reason to limit yourself to "TD or incomplete" type passes
- More time to scheme/coach the O
- Preserves time in the event of >4 downs due to a penalty.
The extra strategy time is probably a wash between offense and defense, although it might favor the offense a bit by allowing substitutions. Rest time seems to be a little bit more valuable for the D. I think those are more minor factors and it likely comes down to which team gets more value from preserving that time. Is it more likely to be the trailing team (giving them extra time to score and go ahead), or the team that's ahead (giving them time to answer a score)?
There's a parallel to hoops here, and it's not fouling up 3 — it's fouling up 1. Say you're up 1 late, on defense, with the shot clock off. Should you foul, or let the other team have the last shot? If you're in a game where your opponent is scoring >1 point per possession on average, the numbers would say yes — you're more likely than not to be losing after their possession, so you ought to want time left — but not many coaches do that*.
Anyway, taking the timeouts here is akin to fouling up 1. You preserve time for yourself but increase the other team's likelihood of scoring and going ahead. Not an identical situation as teams are more likely to punch it in from the 5 than score in one basketball possession, but it's the same basic trade off. Translating this football ending to hoops: MSU opted to foul, we missed the free throws, but they booted the rebound out of bounds and we scored with 2 seconds left for the win.
*(As an aside, this is one reason I think basketball fouls should be delayed calls until a score or change of possession, a la hockey. Saving time is a massive positive for the losing team late in games, and a team shouldn't be able to accomplish it through what's in essence a rules infraction.)