ATLANTA — The two biggest stars for Michigan State football and Pitt sat out the Peach Bowl. And the absence of Kenneth Walker III for the Spartans and Kenny Pickett for the Panthers made big differences for their teams.
So Mel Tucker and MSU relied on a trusty, long-time connection to pull off one final fourth-quarter comeback to finish off a stunning and surprising season.
Payton Thorne connected with Jayden Reed for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 2:51 to play, and Thorne finished with a career-high 354 yards despite being off-target for long stretches to give the 10th-ranked Spartans a 31-21 victory over Pat Narduzzi and the 12th-ranked Panthers on Thursday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“It was just amazing to finish and to do it with a group of guys in the locker room and all the coaches that have pushed us to extreme limits, but they know how to love on us as well,” said senior tight end Connor Heyward, who also caught touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. “So just being able to get this dub means so much and more. Words don’t describe it.”
JEFF SEIDEL:MSU’s comeback win over Pitt a testament to Mel Tucker’s ethos
Pitt looked headed to at least a tying field goal attempt in the final minute behind third-string quarterback Davis Beville and star wide receiver Jordan Addison, but MSU linebacker Cal Haladay picked off Beville’s pass and returned it 78 yards for his second touchdown of the season and the seal on the Spartans’ second New Year’s Six bowl victory. It was their first New Year’s Six win since beating Baylor in the Cotton Bowl Classic on Jan. 1, 2015 — Narduzzi’s final game before taking Pitt’s job.
MSU finished Tucker’s surprising second season at 11-2, the program’s sixth 11-win season and a win in the second-year Spartans coach’s first bowl in three seasons overall as a head coach. MSU opens its 2022 season Sept. 3 against Western Michigan at Spartan Stadium.
“When you’re competing at a very high level against very good competition, you have to be prepared to win games late in the fourth quarter with conditioning, mental
and physical toughness and a never-stop, never-flinch attitude,” Tucker said. “That’s how we train and that’s how we need to play, because at the top, where the best compete, success is measured in inches. And you have to be at your best when your best is needed.
“And oftentimes that’s down the stretch late in the fourth.”
Narduzzi, Mark Dantonio’s defensive coordinator with the Spartans from 2007-14, dropped his first game against MSU after winning an ACC championship and earning the Panthers’ first New Year’s Six bowl appearance. They ended the season 11-3.
“It was a solid day,” Narduzzi said, “but not good enough to win against a good team.”
RAINER SABIN:MSU wins without best player, another statement for Mel Tucker’s program
Thorne finished 29-for-50 with three touchdowns and an interception, taking a knee after Justin White recovered a pooch kickoff following Haladay’s interception return. The sophomore quarterback went 14-for-19 for 145 yards and two scores in the fourth quarter.
“We were missing (Walker), but we felt we could get some stuff in the pass game. And we weren’t really hitting them for a lot of the game,” Thorne said. “But in the fourth quarter we were able to string some stuff together and take advantage of the areas that we thought we were going to be able to.”
Reed was named offensive most valuable player, while Haladay took the defensive honors with a team-leading 11 tackles.
“Coach Tucker’s culture is keep chopping, keep grinding, be relentless. That’s the way we’ve been since fall camp. It got us through these tight games, to be honest,” Haladay said. “When they talk about 15 rounds and taking it to the deep water, that’s what we did. Coach Tuck believes in this conditioned and physical, technical, fundamentals, things like that. And I think that’s what this game came down to.”
Reed, Thorne’s middle school and high school teammate in Illinois, finished with six catches for 80 yards and two scores. Fellow junior wide receiver Jalen Nailor, who returned from a right hand injury, had six catches for 108 yards and a 2-point conversion catch after Reed’s touchdown. And Heyward, in his final game as a Spartan near his hometown and against his father’s alma mater, caught a 15-yard touchdown with 8:06 to play in the fourth quarter to help the Spartans rally from a 21-10 deficit.
All-American running back Walker and Unitas Award winner Pickett both declared for the NFL draft and opted out of the Peach Bowl earlier this month. Without Walker, the Spartans as a team ran 36 times for 56 yards, averaging just 1.6 yards per carry. Jordon Simmons, Elijah Collins and Harold Joiner rushed for just 46 yards on 24 carries combined.
The Spartans got on the board first, set up by an opening kickoff by freshman Stephen Rusnak that bounced inside the goal line and pinned Pitt at its own 2, followed by a three-and-out stop.
A Reed punt return set up MSU deep in Panthers territory, and Thorne found his high school teammate for a 28-yard touchdown strike on third-and-9. Matt Coghlin’s extra-point made it 7-0 Spartans just 1:49 into the game.
However, Pitt responded as quarterback Nick Patti — who took as starter over Pickett – directed a 12-play, 75-yard counterstrike that gnawed 5:14 off the clock with a punishing ground attack. Patti finished it with a 16-yard touchdown scramble on third-and-4, diving for the pylon to tie it up.
But that play proved costly. Patti left the game and did not return, suffering a broken collar bone. Beville, a 6-foot-6 sophomore who played in just two games during the regular season, replaced Patti on the Panthers’ following drive.
Thorne guided a strong answer drive after Patti’s score, moving MSU to Pitt’s 11-yard line with both his arm and legs moving the chains on third downs again. But a false start on third-and-8 at the Panthers’ 11 backed up the Spartans, and they had to settle for a 36-yard Coghlin field goal that made it 10-7 with 2:39 left in the first quarter.
The Spartans’ next drive, which included a spinning, one-handed catch by Jalen Nailor for 50 yards, stalled at the Pitt 15 after another MSU false start and a sack of Thorne. This time, Coghlin — who has been battling a right hip injury — missed a 33-yard attempt wide right.
Two possessions later, Thorne again guided the Spartans back into Panthers territory. But the sophomore quarterback threw his 10th interception of the season, telegraphing a pass to tight end Maliq Carr down the left sideline that Pitt’s Brandon Hill picked off at his own 12 with 2:03 to go before halftime.
The Panthers needed just over a minute to take the lead. Beville hit Addison for 11 yards, then scrambled away from MSU pressure and found the Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver again. Addison turned what appeared to be a broken play into a 52-yard gain deep into Spartan territory, and Beville found Jared Wayne for a 5-yard score to take a 14-10 lead into half.
Coming out of halftime, Thorne was stripped on a run and fumbled the ball to Pitt’s Cam Bright, who returned it 26 yards for a touchdown that made it 21-10, Panthers. That was the only score of the third quarter.
MSU’s defense held Pitt to 274 total yards and 104 yards on the ground. The Panthers managed just 93 yards after halftime, 26 on the ground and 67 through the air. Beville went 14-for-18 for 149 yards, a touchdown and that final interception by Haladay that sent the Spartans into celebration one final time this season.
“I felt like this football team just really laid it on the line and gave us everything that they had,” Tucker said. “And so we really have laid the foundation for how we need to play football here, and our culture has really shifted. We’re cementing it and we’re building upon it every single day.
“The brand of football that we play here at Michigan State is very important. Everyone should be able to look on that field when they see us play and say those guys play hard, those guys are tough, they’re physical. They won’t quit, they don’t flinch.”
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
