Three takeaways from Penn State’s runaway 42-0 victory over Michigan State in Detroit
Penn State closed out its regular season with a dominating 42-0 victory over the Michigan State Spartans on Friday night at Ford Field. The Nittany Lions are now 10-2 on the season with their next game coming in a bowl matchup that’s to be determined.
Here are three takeaways from the regular season finale.
Allar gets into a rhythm
If sophomore quarterback Drew Allar was feeling any effects of the injury he suffered last week against Rutgers, it didn’t show. Allar got into a flow early with some easy attempts and then took off from there. Some of his incompletions weren’t on him, either, with pass catchers dropping balls they should have brought in. He was on the money more often than not with his throws, but it was another aspect to his game that impressed most.
The sophomore quarterback worked through his progressions, often hitting what looked like his second or third option when his initial looks weren’t there. He was calm and composed in the pocket and kept his eyes downfield when he felt pressure. That doesn’t even account for the gorgeous deep ball he threw to Omari Evans that traveled roughly 60 yards in the air during the third quarter. It would’ve been difficult for Allar to play better, and that’s a far cry from what he’s looked like at times this season. Getting him into that rhythm early in the game had to have helped his confidence in his 292-yard, two-touchdown performance.
Defense again proves it’s one of the best
There was more of the same at Ford Field for the Penn State defense, with the unit putting together another performance that would give opposing offensive coordinators nightmares. The pass rush was pinning its ears back and getting after Michigan State quarterback Katin Houser early and often, forcing him into bad throws and sacks. The secondary was staying tight to the Spartan receivers, making life hard for Houser when he did get time to throw. Even when the Spartans managed to get the ball downfield with a big play, the defense tightened up and prevented them from scoring. PSU ended up finishing with seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss, while limiting the Spartans to less than 100 total yards.
There are few defenses, if any, better than Penn State’s — and it showed again Friday night. In the bigger picture, it deserved more than the 10 regular season wins the team was able to earn and should have been a unit that had the chance to play in the College Football Playoff.
New Year’s Six bowl in sight
Over the last two weeks, Penn State has done all it can to secure a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game. The Nittany Lions helped pass the eye test with one of their most complete offensive performances of the year, even with the early struggles to finish drives, showing the group can help complement the defense.
Now it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what the College Football Playoff selection committee thinks and where the Nittany Lions will finish in the final rankings in just over a week. As long as they remain in position to get one of those NY6 bids, Penn State will likely be headed to the Peach Bowl or Fiesta Bowl, the two games where they were most frequently projected to prior to Friday night’s win.
This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 10:37 PM.
