As Michigan State head coach Rick Comley and his oft-maligned Spartans blanked No. 2 Wisconsin 4-0 on the Badgers’ home ice Friday night, everyone knew something was amiss.

For Wisconsin, absolutely nothing went to plan.

The talents of young keeper Brian Elliot completely vanished after allowing a chip-in goal early in the first period. The Wisconsin penalty kill, so formidable in recent weeks, appeared utterly pathetic before an infamously meager Spartan offense. And finally, the presence of Badger playmakers such as Robbie “Hollywood” Earl seemed faint at best.

So what went wrong? Too much Thanksgiving turkey? Perhaps a general fatigue following an arduous road trip to Alaska-Anchorage? Or possibly the Badgers were focusing too much on Saturday’s match-up with top-ranked Michigan?

Team captain and center Adam Burish promptly dismissed all three, refusing to make any excuse for the poor effort.

Whatever the case, one fact remains: Another chilly November night, another embarrassing defeat suffered by a highly ranked Wisconsin squad at the hands of a Michigan State underdog. After all, who could forget the gridiron chapter of this story — Michigan State’s 49-14 rout of No. 4 Wisconsin Nov. 13 at Spartan Stadium? One that tells of confidences shattered, Rose Bowl dreams wilted and a lesson in humility to one of the nation’s most vaunted defensive units.

In some regard, these tales sound suspiciously similar, but wait, there’s something else.

In the immediate wake of both the ice and field editions of the Spartan tragedy, head coaches Barry Alvarez and Mike Eaves shared the same reaction, almost verbatim. Both, perplexed by the bizarre series of events that had just transpired, concluded, “I can’t put my finger on it,” when asked to speculate on a potential cause.

Well, I’ve never been one to leave things open ended. Therefore, in the great and storied legacy of sports pundits making ridiculous assertions, my hat’s being thrown in the ring.

“Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or ceases to be; for nothing comes into being or is destroyed; but all is an aggregation or secretion of pre-existing things,” wrote the Ionian philosopher Anaxagoras. “So that all becoming, might more correctly be called becoming mixed, and all corruption, becoming separate.”

Now, you may be asking yourself at this point, “What the hell am I reading on a sports page?” Well … touché. There’s a basic tenant of science that goes something like this: Matter and energy can be neither be created nor destroyed. Textbooks call it the Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy. Chemists and physicists call it elementary. When examining the Michigan State-Wisconsin conundrum of 2004, I call it deceptively relevant.

Last season, on the basketball court, fate dealt a much different hand. Heading into the 2003-04 campaign, most experts expected Michigan State to take the Big Ten Conference with little difficulty as the Spartans marched in with a No. 3 preseason ranking. When the Badgers faced Michigan State Jan. 10 to open the Spartans’ conference schedule, Wisconsin carried the superior ranking, though many watched for Michigan State to bounce back from their early-season troubles.

Granted, the Spartans’ record appeared somewhat pathetic heading in, yet many of those losses came at the hands of some mighty foes (No. 6 Kansas, No. 6 Duke and No. 8 Kentucky, to name a few). Instead of a responding, however, Michigan State decisively fell to Wisconsin 77-64. Afterward, the Spartans did rebound, going on a 12-2 run in conference play.

Then the teams met again March 2, this time in East Lansing. On the strength of a Paul Davis double-double (25 points, 10 boards), the Spartans rallied to take the lead in the second half. With just two-and-a-half minutes left on the clock, Davis left the game with leg cramps as Michigan State led 50-47. In the final minute of regulation, Devin Harris nailed a shot from downtown to tie the game. A Wisconsin foul then sent guard Chris Hill to the line with two chances to take the lead. Hill, a solid free throw shooter, missed both, and the Spartans lost in overtime 68-64.

Less than two weeks later, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo found himself cursing the Badgers again when Wisconsin bounced Michigan State from the Big Ten Tournament 68-66. The Spartans gave up a season-low five turnovers and shot 56.5 percent from the field yet couldn’t manage to contain Harris or forward Mike Wilkinson. The lead exchanged hands four times in the final 1:36, but it was the two threes drained late in the game by Harris that nailed shut the Spartans’ hopes of a conference tournament title.

In fact, despite all his accolades at the Michigan State helm — a 207-90 record, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, four Big Ten Championships, three Final Four appearances and a national championship — there’s one achievement Izzo cannot claim: a victory over a Ryan-led Wisconsin squad.

Lo and behold, the struggle continues Jan. 16 at the Kohl Center. Certainly, and more so than ever, the forces of balance in the universe favor Ryan. After the debacles of the past couple weeks, Bo’s got karma lined up on credit — as long as the Badgers can make the most of it.

“… and all corruption, becoming separate.” Hopefully for Wisconsin, the truth of Anaxagoras’ words continues to endure on the floor.