Spartans routed by Penn State, 49-18

State College, Pa. —- Playing on the program’s biggest stage in 18 years, the No. 17 MSU football team stumbled and came to a crashing fall under the bright lights of Beaver Stadium, losing in convincing fashion to No. 7 Penn State 49-18.

With the loss, MSU’s hopes of earning its first Big Ten Championship since 1990 vanished, as the Spartans end the regular season at 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten, finishing second behind Big Ten co-champions Penn State (11-1, 7-1) and Ohio State (10-2, 7-1).

“When you’re picked sixth or seventh in this conference and you play for a championship at the end of the year you’ve done some good things,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said. “But we’re not there yet and that’s fair to say — we’re not there yet. That’s pretty clear.”

MSU’s 45-7 drubbing by Ohio State in East Lansing on Oct. 18 was the last time the Spartans faced a ranked team. With that matchup fresh in the mind of the public, the Spartans entered Saturday’s game a 16-point underdog. By the end of the game it was clear the Spartans didn’t belong on the same field as the Nittany Lions, who had been ranked as high as No. 3 in the major polls this season.

The Nittany Lions scored once in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Darryll Clark to Graham Zug, but from there on out the Nittany Lions rolled — putting up a school-record 557 yards with their “Spread HD” offense and converting 76 percent (13-for-17) of their third downs.

In the second quarter, Clark — who had five total touchdowns and a career-high 341 passing yards on 16-for-26 passing — and the Nittany Lions quickly took control of the game.

Fullback Dan Lawlor capped off an 86-yard scoring drive — Penn State’s longest of the season — with a 1-yard run with 12:01 remaining in the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.

The Spartans managed to get into Penn State territory on their ensuing drive, but defensive lineman Maurice Evans sacked senior quarterback Brian Hoyer, putting the Spartans back on their half of the field and forcing them to punt two plays later.

Greg Jones, who finished with a game-high 15 tackles, and the MSU defense stuffed the Nittany Lions on two consecutive plays on Penn State’s next possession as the host faced a 3rd-and-17, but a screen pass from Clark to running back Evan Royster turned into a 37-yard gain and eventual 1-yard touchdown run by Clark to put the Nittany Lions up 21-0 with 3:57 remaining in the half.

Hoyer and the Spartans began their next series with back-to-back receptions, but Penn State’s Anthony Scirrotto intercepted Hoyer’s third pass as the Nittany Lions regained possession.

On the very next play, Clark found Derrick Williams for a 32-yard touchdown to put the Nittany Lions up by four scores with less than three minutes to go in the first half.

“We really shot ourselves in the foot — penalties, that first interception I threw,” said Hoyer, who completed 25-of-40 passes for 206 yards and two interceptions. “… You can’t do those type of things, especially against Penn State.”

The Spartans finally got on the board with 22 seconds left in the half when senior running back Javon Ringer, who was held to 41 yards, capped off a 14-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Ringer’s touchdown, his MSU-record 21st of the season (breaking Jehuu Caulcrick’s mark set in 2007), made the score 28-7 heading into halftime.

All Penn State’s scoring in the second half came courtesy of Clark and wide receiver Deon Butler, who hooked up for touchdown receptions of 4, 70 and 59 yards, as the Nittany Lions took control of the game and never looked back.

“The stakes were high and we dropped the ball,” junior defensive end Trevor Anderson said. “If you look at it the way I look at it … the two teams that finished ahead of us, they beat us; they handed it to us, so that just tells us we have a long way to go if we’re going to be a top echelon team in this league.”

Junior kicker Brett Swenson connected on a 30-yard field goal with 9:09 remaining in the fourth quarter and redshirt freshman Kirk Cousins hit sophomore wide receiver Mark Dell for a 23-yard touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. MSU converted on its two-point try on a completion from Cousins to senior wide receiver Deon Curry for the final margin.

Even with the blowout loss in their season finale, the Spartans live to see another day and now have to wait to find out which bowl game they will head to. With a 9-3 record and a strong fan following, the most likely scenario will be the Outback Bowl, a Jan. 1 in Tampa, Fla., against a team from the Southeastern Conference.

“The thing that I’ll point is we’re a 9-3 football team, what we’re doing, a January 1 bowl game, hasn’t been done since 1999,” Hoyer said about how he and his teammates will keep their spirits high. “Don’t hang your heads and that’s what we said in this locker room — there’s a lot to be proud of. Obviously, today is very disappointing, but we’ll move on and we have a great opportunity to play on a New Years Day bowl game.”