EVANSTON, Ill. — It began with the answer to Michigan State football’s months-long quarterback question. And Payton Thorne quickly became a secondary story.
Kenneth Walker III delivered exactly what Connor Heyward predicted a month ago: “Home run. Every time he touches the ball.”
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At least the first time, as Walker took a handoff from Thorne and ran 75 yards on the first play from scrimmage to set the tone immediately Friday night. His 264 yards on 23 carries and four scores revived a years-dormant run game, and Thorne played the game manager role effectively in leading the Spartans to a 38-21 victory over Northwestern.
The Spartans host Youngstown State next Saturday (noon/Big Ten Network).
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Running Walker
Going into the season, it had been 701 minutes and 24 seconds of football since an MSU running back scored a touchdown on the ground, a span of nearly 11½ games since Elijah Collins’ second TD of the game against Illinois in 2019.
It took Walker 13 seconds to change that.
The 5-foot-10, 210-pound junior showed the same sense for the end zone he showed at Wake Forest, where his 17 career rushing touchdowns over two seasons were more than the Spartans got from all running backs combined since 2018.
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Walker got the ball on MSU’s first play of the season, then immediately cut toward fellow transfer Jarrett Horst (Arkansas State) at left tackle and picked up key blocks from Heyward and receiver Jayden Reed. A juke froze Northwestern safety Bryce Jackson, and Walker cut outside and blasted up the lakeside sideline and headed south with a burst, like he wouldn’t be stopped until he reached the bleachers at Wrigley Field.
On the second drive, Walker carried five more times for 28 yards to become the first Spartan to run for 100 yards since Collins did it against Rutgers in 2019. And Walker punctuated a 10-play, 74-yard drive with another jump cut to freeze the defense from 3 yards out and make it 14-0.
In the third quarter, after the Wildcats had scored near the end of the first half to make it a two-score game agian and driven deep into MSU territory to open the second, the defense forced a second missed field goal, setting up another MSU drive. Walker finished that campaign off by going around the left end, diving for the pylon and a 5-yard score to make it 28-7.
Northwestern again scored on a second Hunter Johnson-to-Trey Pugh touchdown pass with 11:17 remaining to bring the Spartans’ lead to two scores again. But Walker again flipped the field with a 50-yard burst and then converted a fourth-and-1 deep in Wildcats territory. It set up Matt Coghlin’s 37-yard field goal with 6:04 to play that essentially put the game away.
Walker became MSU’s first 200-yard rusher since Le’Veon Bell had 266 vs. Minnesota in 2012. Walker ran for more yards on Friday than any MSU RB had all of last season. (Jordon Simmons led the Spartans with 219 rushing yards in 2020.)
Then with 1:29 to play and MSU’s lead back to 10, Walker hopped his way to a 6-yard score to become the first MSU running back with four rushing touchdowns since Edwin Baker did it vs. Minnesota in 2010.
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QB1
Second-year coach Mel Tucker made it official before the game that Thorne, the sophomore who started MSU’s final game of 2020 at Penn State, had won the starting job again.
And the native of nearby Naperville, Illinois, did a solid job moving the Spartans up and down the field while spreading the ball around.
The sophomore was 15-for-26 passing for 185 yards and a touchdown — a 14-yard screen pass to Simmons early in the second quarter that made it 21-0. Thorne also ran five times for 28 yards.
MSU outgained Northwestern, 511-396, in beating Pat Fitzgerald for the second straight year under Tucker; before last year’s upset victory, the Spartans had lost three straight and four of the previous five to Northwestern under Mark Dantonio.
MSU, which had one of the most anemic offenses in the country a year ago — and has struggled to run the ball consistently since 2017 — had 326 yards on the ground.
Running back Harold Joiner III left the game after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit with 4:47 to play, but there was no targeting called on the play after a booth review.
Defense revamped
MSU’s defense showed a bend-but-don’t break mindset for much of the game.
Cornerbacks Kalon Gervin and Ronald Williams each gave up a 40-plus yard pass in the first quarter in single coverage, but the Spartans recovered to hold the Wildcats without points on those drives.
The Spartans rotated six defensive tackles, as well as five linebackers and five defensive ends. Gervin, Williams and safeties Xavier Henderson and Angelo Grose were fixtures. Michael Dowell and Darius Snow switched on and off at nickel back.
The results were mixed. Johnson threw for 283 yards on 30-for-43 passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Northwestern also converted nine of 24 third- and fourth-down attempts, and the middle of the defense lost track of tight ends Trey Pugh and Charlie Mangieri for the first two touchdowns. Williams gave up the third to Stephon Robinson Jr. with 2:27 to play.
But Henderson, Williams and transfer linebacker Quavaris Crouch (from Tennessee) each had a sack as MSU managed to put consistent pressure on the Northwestern quarterback.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
