Notebook: Michigan State capitalizes on loss of Carl Nassib, Garrett Sickels

Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook had all the time in the world to do whatever he pleased to Penn State’s defense on Saturday night.

In fact, Cook never even appeared to get pressured by the Nittany Lions’ pass rush — he said so himself, after the Spartans whooped Penn State 55-16 to clinch the Big Ten East.

“Connor told me that at the end of the game, he never got touched, never got knocked down,” head coach Mark Dantonio said after the game.

“Yes, obviously he was comfortable in the pocket,” head coach James Franklin said after the game. “Their offensive line and defensive lines are the strength of their team.

“We have been able to get pressure on everybody all year long but when you take away your starting defensive ends off of your unit that’ll take an effect.”

Had the nation’s sack leader, Penn State senior defensive end Carl Nassib, and his younger counterpart Garrett Sickels been in the game, that may have been a different story.

Nassib has been nursing an injury (announced by the ESPN broadcast as a hamstring issue, though that was not confirmed by Penn State Athletics to any beat writers as per head coach James Franklin’s policy), suffered a few weeks ago and was only able to play a few snaps in Saturday’s contest before departing for the sideline. Sickels didn’t even make the trip with the team, for undisclosed reasons.

So, the defensive line was left with only its inside starting players, defensive tackles Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson.

Zettel was moved to the outside, and his spot was filled by Tarow Barney – his first-ever start. Torrence Brown replaced Nassib.

But it hardly shook the experienced, physical offensive line of Michigan State.

“Our guys protect,” said Dantonio. “We’ve played a lot of different guys up there. Now we’re back in sync and again, we’ve gotten stronger.”

They protected Cook, sure — the senior quarterback threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns — but they also created space for runners.

Penn State was gashed for 188 yards on the ground, and three rushing touchdowns. There was almost no pushback from the defensive line on carries, and the Spartans lost just five net yards throughout the game as opposed to Penn State’s 34 rushing yards-lost.

“Defensively, not having Sickels and Nassib affected us,” said Franklin. “We went up against a big physical offensive front. They were able to run the ball consistently against us today.”

The most telling sign of how badly the loss of the two starters affected the team was Penn State’s zero tackles for loss recorded throughout the game — a season-low, as the Nittany Lions’ were leading the nation in sacks and Nassib was leading FBS players in both sacks and tackles for loss.

“They were pretty much able to run consistently,” said Franklin. “We did not dictate the game to them; they were able to dictate the game to us, especially with our offense.”

Barkley breaks 1,000-yard mark

Freshman running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 103 net yards on 17 carries against Michigan State, and in doing so, became the first Penn State freshman back to break 1,000 yards rushing in a season, with 1,007, since D.J. Dozier’s 1983 season with 1,002.

Barkley accomplished the feat despite missed 2 1/2 games to injury and recording just one carry in Penn State’s season-opening loss to Temple. It was his fifth 100-yard game of the year.

“He’s a talented guy,” said Franklin. “He’s an example of a guy that came in here with the right attitude and tremendous ability and worked really hard. When his opportunity came available, he took advantage. He has a lot of skills in terms of size, speed and the ability to make people miss and break tackles. He has a bright future.”

Senior offensive lineman Angelo Mangiro weighed in on the talent of the young back after the game.

“When I look at a back, I usually check out his legs and his calves first, and then his (rear end),” laughed Mangiro, when asked if he thought Barkley would be a 1,000-yard rusher in the Big Ten this season. “And the kid, his attributes right there are phenomenal. Then you see spurts of, ‘Wow this kid can be incredible.’”

This story was originally published November 28, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Notebook: Michigan State capitalizes on loss of Carl Nassib, Garrett Sickels."