What Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said about his team's win over Penn State football
The Penn State Nittany Lions suffered a 30-27 defeat on the road to Michigan State to wrap up their regular season.
Here’s what Spartans head coach Mel Tucker had to say about his team’s win:
Making adjustments in the secondary
The Spartans entered this game with the worst passing defense in the FBS, and it appeared that the Nittany Lions could exploit that weakness early on.
Quarterback Sean Clifford posted 173 passing yards and two touchdowns in the first half. After the second of those scores, Tucker could be seen having an animated conversation on the sideline with members of his secondary.
Perhaps due to the weather, Penn State relied heavily on its run game in the second half, and the Spartans cut down on the big play issues that allowed the Nittany Lions to march up and down the field on their two first-half touchdown drives.
Tucker said he told the Michigan State defensive backs to focus on doing their jobs, and to have confidence that the players around them would do theirs.
“We wanted to make them earn everything they get,” Tucker said. “Defensively, when we don’t give up explosive [plays] we can hold people to lower numbers, and we played much better in the second half.”
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Michigan State’s fourth-down success
The Spartans made the most of their fourth-down scenarios all night, with none bigger than a fourth-and-15 conversion late in the fourth quarter.
Leading by three with about five minutes remaining, it would have made sense for the Spartans to kick a field goal in this situation.
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But the snow made kicking difficult, and Michigan State had injury problems at the kicker position.
That, Tucker said, forced the Spartans to go for it on fourth-and-long, and it paid off.
Jayden Reed rose up over Penn State cornerback Johnny Dixon in the corner of the end zone, coming down with a touchdown catch that put the Spartans up by 10.
“He comes up with big plays like this every week it seems like, consistently all season,” Tucker said. “He’s a very good player, he’s very competitive. Fourth-down conversions are a big part of the game.
“We’re not afraid to put it in the air if it’s the best thing to do and get it to our playmakers.”
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Thorne’s reaction to Penn State’s pick-six
All the momentum seemed to switch to Penn State’s sideline in the third quarter, when Daequan Hardy picked off Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown to give Penn State the lead.
But Thorne played a key role in leading an important Michigan State response to his own error.
After the pick-six, the Spartans embarked on a 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that finished with Thorne punching it in from a yard out.
Asked about Thorne’s reaction to his mistake at that moment, Tucker touched on his quarterback’s mental toughness.
“You have to move on,” he said. “You can’t act like it didn’t happen, the pick-six or whatever, you don’t act like it didn’t happen, you accept it and you own it and you have to quickly move on to what’s next.
“We were able to do that, just keep chopping, move on to what’s next.”
