The dam broke for Michigan State at Purdue, but they're fine
LSJ columnist Graham Couch and Free Press columnist Shawn Windsor break down Michigan State football's 40-29 loss to Purdue on Nov. 6, 2021.
Graham Couch and Shawn Windsor, Detroit Free Press
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Unbeaten no more.
On a day with a number of injuries before and during the game, along with an iffy ejection for targeting, No. 6 Michigan State football’s defense finally broke after a season of bending. Purdue’s third-down conversions led to touchdowns instead of field goals.
Ultimately, the Spartans could not stop the Boilermakers’ aerial assault, with Aidan O’Connell passing for 536 of their 594 total yards in a 40-29 victory Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium. The senior was 40 of 54 passing.
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MSU (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten), which was No. 3 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, now returns home to face Maryland next Saturday, fighting to remain in contention for the Big Ten East title. A trip to Ohio State looms the following week.
"This year, we've been finding ways to win games. And even this one, we had a chance to win," senior safety Xavier Henderson said as Purdue fans trickled out the exits after storming the field. "We just couldn't get stops on defense. ... We take it, watch it, learn from it. We gotta get ready for Maryland."
Kenneth Walker III ran for 146 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, but he had 103 yards on 17 first-half attempts. He tacked on a 33-yard run late in the game after Purdue went up by 16 with a little over 6 minutes to play.
That run, though, set up Tre Mosley’s second touchdown catch from Payton Thorne, an 11-yard score with 5:03 to play to pull MSU within 10 points. The Spartans then converted the 2-point play on a throw from Thorne to Purdue transfer Maliq Carr.
But Purdue iced it with a 46-yard screen pass on the first play and a third-and-10 conversion with about 4 minutes to play deep in MSU territory.
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"We're not gonna sit here and say that we went and lost the game," Thorne said. "Did we play our best? No, absolutely not. But they made more plays than we did, and they came out on top. Credit to them."
Thorne finished 20 of 30 for 276 yards with two touchdown passes to Tre Mosley and a 32-yard touchdown run himself. He also had an interception at the goal line early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-down play.
The Boilermakers went 11-for-18 on third downs, scoring two of their touchdowns on the money down and adding a fourth-down conversion to set up one of four second-half field goals for Mitchell Fineran.
"We made too many mistakes," MSU coach Mel Tucker said. "We didn't get off the field on third down. We gave up way too many (explosive plays). On offense, we weren't able to convert when we needed to convert and things like that. And so that's what it was.
"But the team play hard, and we knew we were gonna continue to play hard. ... We just didn't do enough. They did more, they made more plays than us today to win the game. So we've got to give them credit."
The swing point, however, came in the third quarter, after Thorne tied the game with a touchdown run. The Spartans got flagged for two 15-yard penalties — one on a hard tackle by Chester Kimbrough ruled unnecessary roughness, and the other a targeting ejection on Simeon Barrow after going helmet-to-helmet on O’Connell as the QB tried to run. King Doerue scored a 2-yard touchdown on third-and-goal to make it 28-21, and MSU never recovered.
The Spartans had six penalties for 70 yards.
The signs of things being amiss were there in warmups.
Wide receiver Jalen Nailor did not make the trip after injuring his right hand in last week’s win over Michigan, which was an expected loss. But starting left tackle Jarrett Horst also remained in East Lansing for undisclosed reasons.
Cornerbacks Ronald Williams II and Marqui Lowery came out before any other players to stretch, typically a sign of dealing with injuries and neither played in the first half. The Spartans needed Williams, visibly slowed, to take over for freshman Chuck Brantley after he appeared to injure his shoulder in the third quarter.
Kicker Matt Coghlin arrived to the field late for specialist stretching and did not take any warmup kicks — and freshman walk-on Stephan Rusnak took the Spartans’ first point-after attempt.
On MSU’s first drive, Walker broke off a 28-yard run but fumbled at Purdue’s 38, the first time of his college career to end a streak of 395 carries without turning the ball over.
The Boilermakers capitalized with O’Connell hitting middle routes and converting a third-and-6. Then on third-and-goal, Barrow and Jacub Panasiuk appeared to have the quarterback contained for a sack when O’Connell sidestepped the pressure, scrambled forward and found David Bell in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown with 9:12 left in the first quarter.
MSU answered with two big passes from Thorne, the first a 35-yarder to Connor Heyward off a double play-action fake. Then on third-and-11 in Purdue territory, it was the Spartans quarterback’s turn to evade the pass rush, rolling to his right and finding Mosley at the right pylon for a diving 26-yard touchdown.
O’Connell continues to attack MSU’s shaky pass defense, throwing an 8-yard touchdown to Broc Thompson early in the second quarter. Then Spartan mistakes bit them — a missed Rusnak field-goal attempt after a 15-yard chop block called on Kevin Jarvis, then an illegal motion penalty on Justin White that forced MSU to punt again after Bryce Baringer pinned Purdue at its own 2. The redo cost MSU 47 yards, and the Boilermakers used the short field to its advantage. O’Connell threw a double-reverse flea-flicker back to Jackson Anthrop, who followed a convoy of blockers, dodged Spartan defenders and outraced them across the field for a 39-yard touchdown to make it 21-7 with 4:50 before halftime.
"We just didn't make enough plays," Henderson said, "especially in the back end."
MSU got a much-needed answer, though, before halftime. Thorne converted a key third down to Tyler Hunt to extend the drives. Then on fourth-and-2, following dueling timeouts, Walker bounced a handoff around the right side and dashed 14 yards with 1:04 left to send the Spartans into halftime down 21-14.
The defense caused a critical turnover early in the third quarter, with Jeff Pietrowski forcing a Zander Horvath fumble and Darius Snow recovering at Purdue’s 49. Three plays later, Thorne took off on a QB draw and stepped through a tackle to tumble into the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown. The Spartans tied it up with less than 3 minutes into the second half.
But then everything fell apart, including a perfect season.
"It's just one of those things where you gotta own it," Tucker said. "It's tough. But at the same time, this is a tough game for tough people."
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
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