No. 6 Penn State upends Michigan State 28-7 to stay perfect on the season
Bring on Minnesota.
The Penn State Nittany Lions (8-0) played a near-perfect first half Saturday and now remain perfect on the season after a 28-7 win over Michigan State (4-4) at Spartan Stadium.
Penn State is now one of just nine undefeated teams left in the nation. Minnesota is one of the others — and the two teams play Nov. 9 after a bye week.
Tight end Pat Freiermuth scored a career-high three touchdowns against Michigan State on Saturday, tying Mike Gesicki’s school record for career TDs (15) by a tight end. And Freiermuth did it in 25 fewer games.
Penn State’s defense also came up big, limiting the Spartans to 265 yards, while linebacker Micah Parsons led the way with a game-high 12 tackles.
Players of the game
QB Sean Clifford and TE Pat Freiermuth: Sure, wideout KJ Hamler played well and it’s hard to find fault with much of anything the defense did. But on a cold, rainy day, QB Sean Clifford started hot and — despite an ugly interception — still played well, particularly in the first half. He finished 18-of-32 passing for 189 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. And TE Pat Freiermuth made history.
Freiermuth finished Saturday with five catches for 60 yards and three touchdowns. Not only are those three touchdowns a single-game school record for a tight end, but they also tied Freiermuth with former TE Mike Gesicki for the most career touchdowns (15) by a tight end in school history.
Which brings us to ...
Play(s) of the game
TE Pat Freiermuth’s first two TDs: OK, OK, for the first time this season — we just can’t decide on one play.
Take your pick here. On Freiermuth’s first touchdown, a 16-yard reception to make it 7-0, QB Sean Clifford threw a beautiful arching pass that a flailing defender couldn’t catch up to after the play-action. That was a solid play because of Clifford’s effort.
Freiermuth TD No. 2? That was all Freiermuth. He caught a Clifford pass over the middle, about 4 yards short of the end zone, and then overpowered three Michigan State defenders to cross the goal line. If his first TD was about finesse, then his second was all about power.
That 19-yard score put the Nittany Lions up 14-0.
Turning point
Blocked field goal and the offensive drive that followed: We’ll get to just why this was so important a little later. But, first, let’s set it up: With 4:22 left in the first half, Penn State led 13-0 and Michigan State set up for a 46-yard field goal to cut into the deficit.
Unfortunately for Sparty, Penn State DE Shaka Toney had other ideas. The redshirt junior burst through the line and raised his arm to block the field goal — and the kick hit him right in the helmet and deflected straight into the air. True freshman CB Keaton Ellis caught it, returned it 8 yards, and Penn State started its drive on the MSU 46.
But what made that block so important was how PSU capitalized. On the ensuing offensive drive, the Nittany Lions converted a key fourth-and-1 — on a 1-yard run by Journey Brown — and, three plays later, QB Sean Clifford found a wide-open KJ Hamler for a 27-yard touchdown. Clifford also ran in for the two-point conversion to boost the lead to 21-0.
Penn State started the game off strong and, thanks to that play combination, it ended the first half on a solid note, too — one that ensured all the momentum stayed on the visitors’ side of Spartan Stadium.
Up next
On bye: No. 6 Penn State (8-0) will be on its second bye of the season this coming week, before taking on No. 17 Minnesota on the road Nov. 9.
The Golden Gophers are also on bye this coming week before taking on PSU. The matchup is on pace to be a lot more interesting than initially thought in the preseason — since both teams remain undefeated.
Minnesota (8-0) has the inside track on the Big Ten West, since every other team in the division has at least two losses. In the East, Penn State and Ohio State remain undefeated — and every other East team has at least two conference losses.
If the Nittany Lions can somehow get past the Buckeyes, this could very well be a glimpse at the Big Ten title game.
This story was originally published October 26, 2019 at 7:12 PM.
