Blue White Illustrated

Michigan State Postgame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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kept right on digging, falling 55-16 aAer a brutal second half in which they fal- tered in all three phases of the game. "We were able to move the ball, but we made critical errors," coach James Franklin said. "You can't turn the ball over and make critical errors on the road against a top team like that. The turnovers hurt us. Turnovers early, turnovers late. Although we were able to move the ball, those kind of things are going to make it very, very difficult to be successful." The Nittany Lions actually had some success on offense in the first half, out- gaining the Spartans 268-200 heading into intermission. But they still trailed by 10, and the second half could hardly have gone worse. Not only were they unable to get a stop on defense, they also surren- dered another defensive touchdown on a batted pass that Malik McDowell inter- cepted, and they fumbled a kickoff, set- ting up a 9-yard touchdown run by center Jack Allen on a gimmick play. The second-half meltdown turned a reasonably close game into the most lop- sided loss of the Franklin era. Before Sat- urday, their worst defeat in Franklin's two years at the helm was a 38-10 loss to Ohio State on Oct. 15. Overall, it was the team's worst loss since a 63-14 drubbing against the Buckeyes in 2013. Playing what was likely his final regu- lar-season game for Penn State, Chris- tian Hackenberg finished with 22 completions in 39 attempts for 257 yards and two TDs, while Saquon Barkley rushed for 103 yards, going over 1,000 yards for the season. Franklin called Barkley's strong effort "a bright spot" on an otherwise dreary day. Matching Barkley was sophomore wideout Chris Godwin, who finished with 11 catches for 109 yards and two TDs. But that wasn't nearly enough to keep things close – not with the Nittany Lions' shorthanded defense struggling. Starting ends Carl Nassib and Garrett Sickels were both injured and out of ac- tion, and their absence was definitely felt, as Connor Cook was able to com- plete 19 of 26 attempts for 248 yards and three touchdowns. The Lions weren't able to get sufficient pressure on the sen- ior quarterback, failing to register any sacks. "We'd been able to get pressure on everybody all year long, but when you take your two starting defensive ends off of your unit, that's going to have an ef- fect," Franklin said. "We moved [An- thony] Zettel out to defensive end, and he hadn't played there all year long. You'd love for somebody to step up into that role, but when you lose two out of your four starters, it had an effect. It had a big effect on us, obviously." With its win, Michigan State (11-1, 7-1) clinched the Big Ten's East Division title and advanced to the league champi- onship game next week against unbeaten West Division champ Iowa. Penn State lost its third in a row and slipped to 7-5 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten. It was a one-game improvement over the Lions' regular-season record in Franklin's first year as coach and a two- game improvement over their conference record. Michigan State had the Lions on their heels at the start. Cook led the Spartans 80 yards on their first possession, ending it with a 29-yard touchdown pass over the middle to R.J. Shelton. The Lions answered with a strong drive of their own, but as was the case last week against Michigan, they weren't able to finish it off, setting for a 19-yard Tyler Davis field goal aAer having first-and- goal at the 4-yard line. And later in the quarter, Michigan State began to pull away, as Gerald Holmes squirted free for SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 9:35 MSU Shelton, R.J. 29 yd pass from Cook, Connor (Geiger, Michael kick failed) 9 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:37....................................................... 0-6 2ND 14:14 PSU Davis, Tyler 19-yard field goal 11 plays, 63 yards, TOP 4:06....................................................... 3-6 7:12 MSU Holmes, Gerald 6-yard run (Geiger, Michael kick) 6 plays, 49 yards, TOP 2:57........................................................3-13 2:36 MSU Cox, Demetrious 77-yard fumble recovery (Geiger, Michael kick)................................................................ 3-20 0:35 PSU Godwin, Chris 8-yard pass from Hackenberg,Christian (Davis, Tyler kick) 10 plays, 67 yards, TOP 1:56................................................... 10-20 3RD 11:40 MSU Burbridge, Aaron 29-yard pass from Cook, Connor (Geiger, Michael kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:20.....................................................10-27 3:31 MSU Price, Josiah 6-yard pass from Cook, Connor (Geiger, Michael kick) 12 plays, 69 yards, TOP 7:04.................................................. 10-34 4TH 14:51 PSU Godwin, Chris 5-yard pass from Hackenberg, Christian (Hackenberg,Christian pass failed) 9 plays, 78 yards, TOP 3:36.................................................... 16-34 11:18 MSU Scott, L.J. 6-yard run (Geiger, Michael kick) 7 plays, 44 yards, TOP 3:31.......................................................16-41 9:56 MSU McDowell, Malik 13-yard interception return (Geiger, Michael kick).............................................................. 16-48 9:48 MSU Allen, Jack 9-yard run (Geiger, Michael kick) 1 play, 9 yards, TOP 0:05......................................................... 16-55 N O V E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 2

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