Blue White Illustrated

swoon last year in which the same two opponents – Ohio State and Michigan State – dealt the Lions heartbreaking de- feats in consecutive weeks. "We've got to be able to finish," coach James Franklin said. "We've got to be able to finish on offense, defense, special teams, all three phases, and we didn't do that today. Although they are painful, I'd rather be in a situation where you've lost five games by 12 points than other places that are trying to figure out how to not lose games by larger margins. Our margin of error is small, our margin of defeat is small and we've got to get all those little things corrected." It was a tough day for Trace McSorley and the rest of the offense, as Penn State threw for only 192 yards against a Michi- gan State defense that had been allowing 305.2 passing yards per game. The Spartans went into the game with a battered, patchwork offensive line and without injured tailback L.J. Scott, who opted not to make the trip. But it still found a way to defeat the Nittany Lions for the sixth time in the past seven games. Penn State fell to 4-2 and 1-2 in the Big Ten. Michigan State, which was coming off a home loss to Northwestern, im- proved to 4-2 and 2-1. Here's a look at the good and the bad: THE GOOD • Facing a Michigan State defense that was giving up only 33.8 rushing yards per game, fewest in the Football Bowl Subdi- vision, Penn State did manage to pop a few long runs. Early in the game, Miles Sanders burst 78 yards straight up the middle. It was the longest run of his ca- reer, and it set up the first touchdown of the a>ernoon. Sanders later had a spin- ning, weaving, tackle-breaking 48-yard run for a score. Penn State finished with 205 rushing yards. • The Lions' defense didn't make every play it could have made, as both Oruwariye and safety Garrett Taylor dropped potential interceptions late in the game. But it made enough plays that the Nittany Lions could have won if they had been more effective on offense. PSU stopped 14 of 19 third-down attempts, and Taylor did come up with his second interception in the past two games, re- turning it 37 yards to the Michigan State 35-yard line. But even from deep in Spar- tans territory, Penn State couldn't get points, losing a yard on four plays and turning the ball over on downs. • With a 6-yard completion to Pat Freiermuth in the first quarter, McSorley became Penn State's all-time leading passer, surpassing Christian Hacken- berg. McSorley's 192 passing yards on Saturday li>ed his career total to 8,610. • Freiermuth is looking more and more like the playmaking tight end the Lions have been looking for to succeed Mike Gesicki. He had a terrific 25-yard catch in the second half. THE BAD • Penn State's passing game was largely ineffective against a Michigan State sec- ondary that had allowed Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson to throw for 373 yards a week earlier. K.J. Hamler was the Lions' leading receiver with five catches for 66 yards and a touchdown. No one else had more than three catches. Juwan Johnson was held to two catches for 19 yards. The struggles in the passing game negated a lot of the good work that Penn State did on the ground. "We ran the ball well against a team that hadn't been giv- ing up more than 33 yards per game, but we weren't able to throw the ball well against a team that had been giving up a bunch of yards all year long," Franklin said. "We weren't able to protect consis- tently. When we needed to run when it mattered most in the four-minute of- fense, we were able to get them to burn two timeouts, but we weren't able to get the first down and put the game away on our terms. We had an opportunity to do that, and we didn't do it." • Penn State made a lot of mistakes. One of the most damaging was an un- sportsmanlike conduct penalty on C.J. Thorpe a>er a third-down stop at the PSU goal line. The flag gave Michigan State a first down and negated what had been, to that point, a valiant goal-line stand. With four more downs at their disposal, the Spartans tied the score one play later. SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 5:03 PSU Hamler, K.J. 5-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Pinegar, Jake kick ) 4 plays, 94 yards, TOP 1:32..........................................................0-7 2ND 13:25 MSU Jefferson, L. 1-yard run (Coghlin, Matt kick ) 11 plays, 81 yards, TOP 4:03......................................................... 7-7 4:33 PSU Sanders, Miles 48-yard run (Pinegar, Jake kick ) 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 2:18........................................................ 7-14 3RD 6:10 MSU Davis, Felton 20-yard pass from Lewerke, Brian (Coghlin, Matt kick ) 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 2:16...................................................... 14-14 4TH 9:21 PSU Pinegar, Jake 20-yard field goal 11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 5:15...................................................... 14-17 0:19 MSU Davis, Felton 25-yard pass from Lewerke, Brian (Coghlin, Matt kick ) 8 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:00...................................................... 21-17 O c T O B E r 1 3 , 2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 2

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