Penn State Players of the Game Against Michigan State

Not well enough, anyway, to keep up with a Michigan State offense that was dominating those battles consistently.

Michigan State safety Grayson Miller (44) celebrates as teammates jump on defensive back Jalen Watts-Jackson after Watts-Jackson recovered a fumbled snap on a punt in the closing seconds of the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Watts-Jackson lumbered 38 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving No. 7 Michigan State a shocking 27-23 win over No. 12 Michigan.

Michigan State defeated Penn State today to end the regular season at 11-1 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten East Division.

As Mark Dantonio said after the game, the goals are still right in front of this team and the first step (beating Penn State) was accomplished and step No. 2 (beating Iowa) is next. “We’ll do what we do”. I think that’s kind of been a cornerstone of their program. Burbridge’s best characteristic is his ability to make the clutch catch in traffic. “We had to play this game to win”.

In this scenario, Michigan State will boast wins over top-10 teams in Iowa and Ohio State, plus wins over Michigan and OR, two teams that will also be ranked in the top 25, likely in the top 20.

Quarterback Jake Rudock, a huge part of the turnaround, left early in the fourth quarter with an injury to his left shoulder, and Harbaugh said he didn’t know how severe it was. “And we’re gonna play fast and we’re not gonna be denied”. We’ve got guys that this is their third time down there.

People will argue about this, because it’s college football and America and that’s what we do.

“Everything is going to be a little different”.

This wasn’t the year for MI to gain an edge in The Game.

It was 41-16 in the fourth quarter when Malik McDowell intercepted a pass that had bounced off fellow defensive lineman Shilique Calhoun.

Much of that success has been due to defense. But that doesn’t mean the current Pittsburgh coach won’t be helping out. The Tigers would come close to matching the Spartans with impressive wins over Notre Dame, North Carolina and Florida State. “It has probably already been done”.

Coach Urban Meyer used words like, “a kick in the stomach” and “hollow” to describe how OSU’s players and coaches felt a week ago. Thanks to a Baylor loss and a commanding road win over a ranked opponent, Ohio State should improve on its No. 8 ranking and secure a New Years Bowl slot for themselves. That’s because the teams aren’t that different.

No matter how surprising it may be to see Iowa in the title game, it’s not a disservice to the job Kirk Ferentz has done with his team in what may be his finest coaching job of his remarkable career. The Wolverines will learn the destination of their postseason bowl game next Sunday (Dec. 6) in a selection program that ESPN will televise. Maybe the Spartans have won so much in recent years that they assumed they would win.

Your starting quarterback, throwing pretty passes again. We’ve always felt like defense is a very important thing and then we try to be a team that can be balanced offensively as well. “So yeah I think there are a lot of parallels, a lot of differences too, but a lot of parallels”.

Rushing offense: Ohio State’s season-high 369 yards rushing were the fourth most in the rivalry against MI, a team that was allowing 100.2 yards coming in.

“To be completely honest, I haven’t looked into any of that”, he said. There is going to be more to come, and how we handle it will define us even further. We closed quite a bit of ground. “We haven’t given up on each other”.