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Michigan State falls to Penn State, finishes regular season at 5-7

Matt Charboneau
The Detroit News

State College, Pa. — Michigan State has been playing shorthanded for weeks, so with Saturday's game at Penn State on the line it was fitting the Spartans were simply outnumbered.

After Michigan State had pulled within a score at 21-16 in the fourth quarter on a Payton Thorne touchdown run, the defense had a chance to make one last big stop as Penn State faced a fourth-and-2 from the Michigan State 12.

The Nittany Lions, who had missed two field goals early in the game, kept the offense on the field. After lining up in a tight formation, they quickly shifted out, four players split wide left. On the other side of the line of scrimmage stood three Michigan State defenders.

BOX SCORE: Penn State 35, Michigan State 16

The Spartans were outnumbered but didn't call a timeout, and the ball was snapped. Sean Clifford threw to running back Nate Singleton who weaved his way to the end zone, essentially putting the game out of reach before Penn State added a late score to complete the 35-16 victory at Beaver Stadium.

“No,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said when asked if he contemplated a timeout. “We’ve just got to set the edge. We ran underneath a couple of blocks and didn’t set the edge. We just didn’t fit it right.”

For s split second safety Xavier Henderson said he thought about calling a timeout. Ultimately, he decided to let it ride.

Penn State cornerback Kalen King (4) breaks up a pass intended for Michigan State wide receiver Keon Coleman (0) during the first half.

“I kind of thought about the timeout,” Henderson said. “But I was like, ‘Shoot, let's just play.’ They did have us outnumbered with three of us over there and four of them. So they just played the numbers game. But if I lined up a little closer and Dillon (Tatum) played the edge a little bit better, we might have stopped ‘em. I probably would have at least been able to get them on the ground, if not maybe stop him before the line. But yeah, I think we probably didn't need a different play, we could have just played it better.”

The end result was the same as it has been far too often this season – Michigan State explaining away another frustrating loss.

“Obviously, disappointed in the game and the way it ended up,” Tucker said. “The kids play hard. Obviously, we didn't play well enough for 60 minutes – offense, defense and special teams. We started off slow on offense and we weren’t able to finish off on defense. … Give Penn State credit. They played better than we played today. We just didn’t play well enough, so very disappointing.”

Michigan State (5-7, 3-6 Big Ten) needed the victory to become bowl eligible and by late Saturday night, it appeared its chances of getting in a game as an at-large were dwindling.

It meant pulling the upset was the best shot at playing another game, instead, Sean Clifford threw four touchdown passes to lead Penn State (10-2, 7-2).

“Obviously, that was a huge drive in the game,” Penn State coach James Franklin said of the decision on fourth down. “They had gotten momentum, were able to get it down to a one-score game obviously. So being able to answer there was a big-time drive. Not only did we go the length of the field, but we took a ton of time off the clock as well, which was really valuable.

“Then going for it on fourth-and-2, I don't know necessarily if the coaching manual would have said that that was the right thing to do, but how the game was playing out and missing some field goals early in the game, I just thought that was the right thing to do to be aggressive there.”

Michigan State had its chances as the defense kept the Spartans in the game, limiting the Nittany Lions to 160 yards on the ground after they’d gone well over 200 years in each of the previous two games.

But a pair of coverage breakdowns in the first half and a fumble on a punt return by Jayden Reed in the third quarter led to Penn State scores that allowed the home team to stay ahead the entire game.

“It was frustrating.” Henderson said. “The first touchdown, they put a good play together, and then they scored on a trick play, so that is what it is. But I think we played well in the second half for sure and had some plays in the first half too. I think it took us too long to get going. We’ve got to give the offense better chances and can't put us behind like that.”

In addition to his touchdown run, Thorne finished 24-for-43 for 229 yards and one touchdown with a late interception. Keon Coleman had eight catches for 91 yards and Maliq Carr had a 9-yard touchdown grab, but Michigan State was unable to run the ball, gaining just 25 yards on the ground.

Michigan State was in the fight early in the game as the defense forced a field-goal attempt on an early quick change, then forced a punt on Penn State’s second possession. Both drives ended with Penn State unable to get points on the board – Jake Pinegar missed a 37-yard field goal after the Nittany Lions recovered a fumble on Michigan State’s third play – giving the offense a chance to find some rhythm.

That groove didn’t come for the offense and the Penn State offense eventually settled in as the running attack started to take control. The first scoring drive for the Nittany Lions went 90 yards on 10 plays and ended with quarterback Clifford hitting a wide-open Theo Johnson with an 11-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds left in the first quarter. The Nittany Lions struck again on their next drive as wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith took a lateral and threw 48 yards to Johnson for another score, giving Penn State a 14-0 lead with 11:22 left in the second quarter.

Penn State looked like it was headed in for another score late in the first half, but Michigan State got a stop and Pinegar missed again, this time from 28 yards. Michigan State responded by moving down the field and getting a 51-yard field goal from Jack Stone as time expired to cut the Penn State lead to 14-3 at halftime.

Michigan State’s defense was tough to open the second half, forcing punts on each of Penn State’s first two possessions. But the Spartans offense went three-and-out after the first stop before Reed fumbled a punt return on the second, giving Penn State the ball at the Michigan State 17. Two plays later, Clifford hit tight end Tyler Warren with a 14-yard touchdown pass to give the Nittany Lions a 21-3 lead with 5:42 left in the third quarter.

“We always talk about your next play,” Thorne said. “You can't dwell on something, and that's a big part of our program. So I knew that he would be in the right headspace moving forward, and I think he was.”

Michigan State responded with its best drive of the game, going 75 yards on 10 plays with Thorne hitting tight end Carr on a 9-yard touchdown pass, cutting the Penn State lead to 21-10 with 1:37 left in the third quarter. The defense forced another punt on the next possession and the offense kept rolling, marching 70 yards on 11 plays, converting three third downs before Thorne scored on a 2-yard run to cut the lead to 21-16 with 10:52 to play. The two-point conversion pass failed.

“We were fighting to the end,” Thorne said. “That's something that we do as a program and our guys are bought into that, that we never give up the fight. We’ve come back multiple times in games since I've been here, so we have examples of coming back. It just didn't happen today.”

Penn State then put the victory away with the fourth-down conversion to Singleton and piled on with another scoring pass from Clifford to Lambert-Smith after a Thorne interception.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau