General Michigan State Penn State 

Big Ten Football: The Sunday Morning Recap

Posted By: DJ Hoyt

Reviewing Penn State vs Auburn, what it means for the James Franklin discussion, and Spartans make an impression in Miami

The Lead

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For Penn State, Saturday’s victory over Auburn should be the final piece in moving on from the 2020 season. The Nittany Lions emerged victorious over the Auburn Tigers in front of their White Out crowd, 28-20.

The Nittany Lions put together a balanced offensive game plan in an effort to keep Auburn guessing. Sean Clifford would have his best performance of the season, finishing 28 of 32, for 280 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Penn State did not have a ton of success on the ground, finishing as a team with 84 yards on 33 tries, but stay committed to it and prevented the Tigers from focus on preventing the pass.

The Penn State defense would hold the Tiger’s running game, which was averaging 9.78 yards per rush, to just 4.6 on the night. Then that same defense would hold the 28-20 advantage with a goaline stand in the late in the fourth, before Auburn’s desperation attempt at the end.

After a 4-5 season where PSU fell far below the standards most people are accustomed to, Penn State is off to a 3-0 start. Not only have they started undefeated, it has come against two quality opponents. In week one, they traveled to Madison, WI and took down the #12 Badgers. Now in week three, they took down the #22 Auburn Tigers. It’s a resume that cannot be ignored by the media and is comparable to Iowa’s resume at this point.

Before this season, the PSU fan base had a vocal component to it that either wanted to see James Franklin gone or would not be upset if he left. While Franklin has managed to win around 10 games on average, his tenure at the program has been seen as coming short in the big games. People point to the recent losses to Ohio State, the loss to Minnesota in 2019, or the 2017 Rose Bowl loss to USC. However, he had defeated the Buckeyes in 2016, won the Big Ten that same year, beat Michigan in 2019 when they were ranked 18th, and now has beaten two ranked opponents in three weeks.

If anything, Saturday’s win should quiet those that complained about Franklin before. He now has the recent history that refutes the big game criticism, and currently has put together the number one recruiting class in the country for 2022.

Does Penn State still need to take care of business the rest of this year? Of course, if the goal is the Big Ten Championship and CFP birth. However, tonight has made 2020 feel like a distant memory while providing immense hope for PSU fans of a special 2021 season.

The Spartan Revival

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Michigan State came into Saturday’s game against #23 Miami looking to change the perception of its program. Instead of the discussion being about a team rebuilding and possibly not quite up to Miami’s level, the Spartans handled the Hurricanes with physical and efficient play.

In their 38-17 victory, Michigan State continued to use its physicality on the offensive line to push defenders around and open up holes for RB Kenneth Walker III to make plays. The Spartans would finish with 193 yards rushing, where Walker would account for 172 of those yards. Just like the prior two weeks, it would be Michigan State setting the tempo in this game with the physicality up front Miami couldn’t match.

However, physical ground and pound type of offenses are nothing new to the Spartans. What is a new development is efficient quarterback play that is turning the passing game into a real threat.

Payton Thorne continued his excellent play at the quarterback position, throwing for 261 yards and four scores. On the year, Thorne has thrown for 726 yards, 9 touchdowns, and no interceptions. It’s becoming apparent each week that Thorne has been able to build a good connection with receivers Jayden Reed and Jalen Nailor, and in yesterday’s game both players would account for at least one score.

This type of offensive attack hasn’t been seen in East Lansing since perhaps 2013. Sparty went 13-1 behind QB Connor Cook on their way to a Big Ten championship, and eventual Rose Bowl victory over Stanford.

I am not saying MSU is going to repeat those feats from 2013, but it certainly looks like Mel Tucker’s squad is further along in their rebuild than anyone expected.

Quick Note

For those who have been coming back to the site regularly since launching this past summer. Thank you. That said, I want to provide people with expectation moving forward about when posts may be up. Obviously the Sunday recaps will remain, and I will try to have them out in the early morning when I can. However, on Tuesday I will plan to touch more on what has transpired across the conference with a new post as well. Thursday will remain a preview and prediction day.

Just wanted to provide some expectations as some people have asked about a schedule recently.

Tweets of the Week

Players of the Week

Offense

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TreVeyon Henderson – RB – Ohio State

The running back set an Ohio State freshman record on Saturday when he ran for 277 yards on 24 carries. It is the most yards by a freshman running back in Ohio State history. Not only did he gain a ton of yardage, but Henderson was able to score three touchdowns, two of which were at least 48 yard runs or longer. It could very well be that Henderson remains the featured back moving forward for this offense.

Defense

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Nick Cross – S – Maryland

In the Terrapins 20-17 win over Illinois on Friday night, Cross would lead the defense with 7 tackles, 4 of which solo, 3 passes defended, and an interception. His play helped keep the Illinois offense from completing even 40 percent of their throws, as the Terrapins improved to 3-0 on the year.

Focus Game of Next Week

#18 Wisconsin vs #12 Notre Dame in Chicago.