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First half: holy crap, this is boring.
Second half: holy crap, what just happened?!
Early on, it looked like this could be one of those games where ealy missed opportunies could cost the Lions late. The second half proved that theory completely wrong. Onto the recap...
1st Quarter
NOTHING HAPPENED.
MSU got the ball first and did nothing.
Penn State followed that up with a 5 play drive that took 1:30 off the clock. The highlight was a 22 yard run by Royster on the first play of the game.
The talented MSU offense came back out and put together a mighty 6 play drive that ran off 3:00.
Penn State then ran their own, nearly identical, 6 play drive. Punt.
MSU got the ball back. Isn't Kirk Cousins supposed to be like, good? 7 plays, punt.
The first quarter ended a few plays into PSU's next drive, and the boredom was setting in.
2nd Quarter
Penn State gained 23 yards on that drive, then punted.
Normally we'd be filling this post with a bunch of pictures of Jeremy Boone after every punt, but we don't think we have enough bandwidth for this game.
This punt put the ball deep into MSU territory, so if nothing else, the field position battle was going Penn State's way.
Then Michigan State managed to put together a 48 yard drive. Then of course, they punted.
Now PSU was stuck at their own 10 yard line.
Clark and company rallied the troops and moved the ball 70 yards, to the Michigan State 20 yard line. Stephfon Green and Royster combined to pick up 52 of those yards on just two plays. Clark also converted a huge 3rd and 4 on a QB draw.
Along the way, Royster dropped a nasty stiff arm that, "GOT HIM FIFTEEN YARDS!!!112"
At least the big plays were coming, even if they were only in small doses.
When the drive stalled out around the MSU 20 it was time to attempt the field goal that went... wide right. Drat.
With a potential momentum swing waiting to take place, Michigan State promptly went three-and-out.
The PSU drive that followed would end up being the first one worth anything on the scoreboard.
Clark hooked up with Zug for 13, then Royster ran for 4 more. Another mid-range pass to Mickey got 8 more and Moye reeled in a catch for 7 more yards. Just like that they were approaching the red zone.
Then a false start.
2nd and 8 at the MSU 29, Clark went over the top to Quarless.
That's six.
7-0
We're not sure why, but nobody covered Quarless on that play. Probably the easiest touchdown of his career.
*grumble grumble* Defense is tough!
Unfortunately, MSU also found their offense after the PSU score.
Cousins came out firing and completed three-straight passes that totaled 32 yards.
Later in the drive he picked up another 44 yards on just two passes and that put them at the PSU 11. After a first down incompletion, Cousins put the ball in the endzone with a pass to Charlie Gantt. Just like that -- 8 plays and 87 yards.
7-7
PSU's next drive nearly got them into Colin Wagner's range, but Greg Jones got a huge sack that made the field goal attempt a 51 yarder.
Wide left.
-Halftime-
Not much going on.
3rd Quarter
After a 37-yard kickoff return from Stephf Green, the Lions wasted no time putting the offense into high gear. After a 4-yard carry from Royster, Clark hit Moye for 22 yards. A little trickery on the next play, as Curtis Drake took the handoff and lofted one to Quarless in the end zone for a score.
14-7
It's not surprising that Curtis Drake didn't play more this year, but it is disappointing.
The next three drives produced nothing for either team, and Penn State had the ball after at their own 34 after an MSU punt. It took only three plays for the Lions to put it in the end zone on this drive. 11-yard catch by Quarless, 30-yard rush from Royster, and Clark hit Joe Suhey of all people for a 30-yard TD strike.
21-7
The Spartans were still in the game at this point, and Kirk Cousins set out to get them within a touchdown, but things went awry pretty quick on this drive. After a holding call on first down, Cousins scrambled on the next play and launched one downfield. Looked like a nice play, until you saw Nick Sukay fly onto the screen, intercept the pass and return it 34 yards to the MSU 32. Ouch.
If that weren't enough, clark hit Graham Zug for a 32-yard touchdown on the next play.
28-7
We don't know what happened to Sparty's defense this quarter (especially the secondary), but it wasn't pretty.
Cousins was so in awe of the Penn State D that he went back out on the next drive and tossed another pick, this time to Sean Lee. After a couple runs by Royster and a completion to Quarless, the Clark-Zug connection was good again for six, this time from 27 yards out.
35-7
The rout was on.
So Penn State struggled to score seven points in the first half. In the third quarter, they scored 28.
4th Quarter
Not a whole lot going on in the fourth. The teams traded some punts, and then the backups came in. The offense went into run and burn the clock mode, but with a short field, that was good enough for Newsome and Co. to put up another score.
42-7
On their last drive of the regular season, the Spartans got a touchdown on a 71-yard pass from Keith Nicol to Keshawn Martin. That would've been impressive had they not just given up 35 straight points.
Game.
42-14
Three Four Big Stat Lines:
- Daryll Clark: 19-27, 310 yards, 4 TD
- Andrew Quarless: 4 rec, 62 yards, 2 TD
- Graham Zug: 4 rec, 99 yards, 2 TD
- Navorro Bowman: 10 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 1 sack, 1 pass break-up
Our Quick Thoughts On The Game:
- Thanks for showing up for the second half, Sparty!
- Nice game from Quarless. A glimpse of what his whole career should have been like.
- We know this much about Daryll Clark: he struggles with good teams, but he absolutely kills mediocre ones. A better career than most.
- Good game by Royster. Some big runs while the game was still close.
- Bowman has looked like the old Bowman the last two weeks.
- Seriously, what a meltdown by MSU.
Penn State Player of the Game: Clark, Zug and Quarless.
Yeah, we're picking a trio. Clark threw for 310 yards a four TD's. Two to Zug and one to Quarless, who also picked up another on that fancy halfback pass in the third quarter.
Michigan State Player of the Game: Greg Jones
The guy seemed to be in the backfield a heck of a lot on Saturday. 2.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks testify to that. Everyone knew he'd be a solid player on the Spartan defense, but they just have to fill in the gaps at the other 10 positions.
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