STATE COLLEGE, PA. - Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said he momentarily decided to go for a two-point conversion and the win after the Nittany Lions scored the final touchdown of regulation with 27 seconds to play.

But he quickly reconsidered, and had Sam Ficken kick the extra point that tied the game at 34-all to force overtime, which ended with the Lions posting a wild 43-40 victory.

"Yeah, I wanted to win the game there," O'Brien said. "I felt an urge to just go and win the game right there. I really feel good about our two-point plays. But at the same time I said, 'You know what? Let's go for one and see how it goes in overtime.' "

The Wolverines actually got as far as the Penn State 35 after the tying touchdown scored by the Lions' Christian Hackenberg but Brendan Gibbons was short on a 52-yard field goal attempt.

The longest night

After being part of the longest football game in Penn State history, senior guard John Urschel said he hadn't even heard of four overtimes being played before. But he was glad to be part of this one.

"It's going to be a great memory for me," he said. "Penn State, Michigan my senior year. This is probably going to be the greatest college football game I ever played."

Defense steps up

Penn State linebacker Mike Hull said the defense was fired up even more after losing the ball in the third overtime when Allen Robinson couldn't handle a handoff on a reverse.

"At that point, we were just saying, 'Hey, we're just going to give it everything we've got, we're going to attack their runners and make their situation as tough as possible," Hull said.

With a chance at the win, Gibbons missed a 34-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Staff writer Dan Norton contributed to this article.