Here are 5 takeaways from Penn State football’s 35-16 victory over Michigan State
Penn State is now a 10-win team.
The Nittany Lions fought off the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday night with a 35-16 win. Penn State finished the game out-gaining Michigan State 410-254, crushing the Spartans in the running game with 160 yards on the ground, completing 80% of the passes, including a wide receiver pass that went for a touchdown and possessing the ball for 34:02 to seal the victory.
Here are five takeaways from Penn State’s win over Michigan State in the final regular season game of 2022.
Abdul Carter is a heat-seeking missile
The freshman linebacker continued his tour of obliterating quarterbacks, running backs and receivers alike on Saturday. Carter finished the game with seven total tackles (five solo), three tackles for loss and two sacks in the game.
He also came up clutch with his two sacks coming in the fourth quarter against Michigan State’s Payton Thorne. His first sack was a 9-yard loss that put Thorne on the ground at the Penn State 48-yard line with 14:48 left in the fourth quarter. He later had a second and 20 sack on Thorne with 3:50 remaining in the game for a loss of seven yards.
Carter is showing that he deserves to wear No. 11 at the school dubbed as “Linebacker U.”
Breathe easy James Franklin, 10 wins is a great accomplishment
It’s fair to say that expectations for Penn State heading into the season weren’t at their highest. The Nittany Lions were coming off of a 7-6 season and lost a number of key players on offense like wide receiver Jahan Dotson and left tackle Rasheed Walker, and lost safety Jaquan Brisker, corner Tariq Castro-Fields, linebackers Brandon Smith, Ellis Brooks and Jesse Luketa, along with defensive end Arnold Ebiketie.
Penn State came out firing out the gate in 2022, defeating Purdue 35-31 on Sept. 1 and won three more games against Ohio, Auburn and Central Michigan in impressive fashion. The Nittany Lions struggled against Northwestern, but hung in and won 17-7 on Oct. 1.
While the Nittany Lions lost their next two games against Michigan and Ohio State, a Minnesota victory on homecoming seemed to be a blueprint for the remainder of the season, with the team finishing off the season with four straight wins against Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan State.
Franklin got 10 wins out of a team that many thought could struggle against the likes of Minnesota, Maryland and Michigan State. Instead, his team kicked their butts with an improved offensive line, a somehow scarier defense under the tutelage of Manny Diaz at defensive coordinator and an impressive rushing attack from the most dangerous freshman running back duo in the nation.
Penn State struggled to overpower Michigan State
The Nittany Lions are a significantly better team than the Spartans, or that’s what many thought heading into Saturday’s game. It definitely looked that way in the first half, with Penn State jumping out to a 14-3 lead. KeAndre Lambert-Smith had a 48-yard touchdown pass to Theo Johnson and Sean Clifford hit Johnson on an 11-yard touchdown at the 5:31 mark in the first quarter.
Penn State looked like it was well on its way to blowing out Michigan State when Clifford found Tyler Warren on a 14-yard passing touchdown with 5:42 left in the third quarter and a 21-3 lead. It didn’t last, and just like in a slasher film, the villainous Spartans wouldn’t go down.
Maliq Carr reeled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Thorne with 1:37 to go in the fourth quarter. Thorne later had a 2-yard rush to cut Penn State’s lead to 21-16 at the 10:52 mark in the fourth. Clifford and the offense followed with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a fourth down screen pass to Nick Singleton for an 11-yard touchdown and a 28-16 lead. Thorne threw an interception to Kalen King and Clifford immediately threw a 35-yard spiral to Lambert-Smith, who reeled it in into the end zone for a 35-16 lead.
Time to give Sean Clifford his flowers
Clifford capped off his career at Beaver Stadium by going 19-for-24 on passes (79%) for 202 passing yards, four touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He broke the all-time passing yards record at Penn State and the all-time passing touchdowns record. He’s won 10 games so far in his final season and watched the program struggle during his tenure, but he’s ultimately held up the team with above average quarterback play at times.
The super senior created a name, image and likeness brand. He’s been a worker for the Penn State program and a comrade to his teammates. While he won’t end his career with a national championship, he now has an opportunity to win a second New Year’s Six bowl in his career.
As critical as the media and fans have been to him, he has been a successful successor to Trace McSorley and a good predecessor to Drew Allar. He’s done what he’s supposed to do at Penn State and then some.
It’s time to give the 24-year old his flowers.
Third quarter offensive problems were obvious
The team didn’t make it easy on itself with Clifford getting sacked three times for 19 yards lost. Penn State had just -4 rushing yards in the third quarter. While Penn State’s offense went 7-for-7 and had a touchdown from Clifford to Warren, the rushing offense — a usual strength of the Nittany Lions — couldn’t sustain drives. It all started with the offensive line being unable to sustain blocks and it’s more likely than not due to it being a fairly new unit.
Gelling during the bowl season should bring an added dimension to the offensive line’s consistency.
