“That was the first thing that went through my head when I was laying on the ground,” Davis said. “I was trying to get up instantly, but I was hurting too much. But I got up, (we) sent out a play. Laress (Nelson) made a big play and got us a first down.”

Six plays later, quarterback Brian Lewerke hit Davis, who said his injury was still lingering, for a 25-yard touchdown pass, giving MSU (4-2, 2-1 in Big Ten) the 21-17 upset over No. 8 Penn State (4-2, 1-2) Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

And in the huddle before the play, Davis told Lewerke, “I’m going deep.”

“I told him, ‘Just throw it up, and give me a chance to make a play,'" Davis said. “Just trying to make the play for my team, you know. Everybody wanted this game, everybody played so hard — special teams, defense, offense. And I didn’t want to go into overtime, so I just put the team on my back.”

With the game-winning touchdown, Davis finished with team-high of eight receptions, 100 yards and two touchdowns.

In Lewerke’s words, the senior wideout is "a freaking animal.”

“All you have to do is throw it up to him, and he’ll get the job done,” said Lewerke, who went 24-of-52 for 259 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Coach Mark Dantonio said he tried to move Davis around throughout the game, so the Richmond, Virginia-native could get as many touches as possible.

Which led to the game-winning play, with about 30 seconds left in game and the Spartans down 17-14.

Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner asked Dantonio if he wanted to run the ball and play for overtime, or try to score a touchdown through the air.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we just throw a touchdown pass and go to the end zone?’" Dantonio said. “So that’s what we did.”

Davis’ praise doesn’t only come from the offensive side of the ball, as safety Khari Willis had the same description as Lewerke — “an animal.”

“I love Felton,” Willis said. “He’s going to let us know, he's going to talk, he’s going to speak his mind. He’s going to leave everything on the field. The entire offense came out and executed on that drive … the guys protected up front and did what they had to do. So, hats off to our offense, we have big-time playmakers and Felton happened to be leading that.”

With the absence of White, Stewart and Nailor, playing time was given to wide receivers such as Laress Nelson, who had a career-high five receptions for 60 yards against the Nittany Lions, including a 21-yard catch and 11-yard catch on MSU's final drive of the game.

But before Saturday night, Dantonio said he planned on redshirting the 5-foot-8, 179-pound sophomore.

“It looks like we won’t now,” Dantonio said. “I’m not sure how many catches he had, but he had some huge catches, a couple huge catches on the last drive, maybe the last two drives.”

Offensive line gains consistency

Saturday’s game against Penn State gave MSU's offensive line its sixth-starting combination through six games.

But unlike the previous five games, the Spartans stuck with their starters for most of the game: Cole Chewins at left tackle, Tyler Higby at left guard, Matt Allen at center, Blake Bueter at right guard and Jordan Reid at right tackle. 

“Well we have guys out, so that made that happen,” Dantonio said. “We had one guy that we really would substitute in there and that had started for us before. I'm not sure how much (Luke) Campbell played but I thought he was in there some.”

The injuries: usual starting left guard David Beedle is out for about a month with a left-arm injury, while usual starting right guard Kevin Jarvis has now missed the last three games.

Because of this, Chewins knew everybody on the offensive line needed to stay ready going into Saturday.

“We knew coming into this week that, as a unit, whoever played, whether we stayed the same line or people rotated in, everybody had to be ready and do their part and their job for the offense in order for us to win this game. And I think everyone did a great job and stepped up," Chewins said.