Trace McSorley threw four second-half touchdown passes as No. 7 Penn State rallied to beat Michigan State 45-12 in its regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon, securing the Big Ten East championship.
Penn State (10-2) needed Ohio State to beat Michigan earlier in the day to have a shot at the division title, and the Buckeyes nipped the Wolverines 30-27 in double overtime, a game that went final midway through the first quarter of the PSU-MSU game.
The Lions trailed 12-10 at halftime, but McSorley fired TD strikes in the third quarter of 34 yards to Chris Godwin, 45 to Mike Gesicki and 59 yards to Godwin.
McSorley added a 40-yard scoring pass to backup running back Andre Robinson with 3:40 left in the game.
The victory was the eighth straight for PSU, which will face Wisconsin for the conference championship next Saturday in Indianapolis.
The Lions have been behind or tied at halftime in five of them. They have outscored their opponents 118-47 in the third quarter this season, 274-102 in the second half.
Michigan State finished an uncharacteristic 3-9.
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Offense
As has been the case in several games this season, the Spartans were bent on stacking the box and taking away running back Saquon Barkley, the Big Ten’s leading rusher. They succeeded in doing that, as Barkley finished with 14 yards on 12 carries before departing in the game late in the third quarter after rolling his right ankle.
But McSorley made MSU pay, hitting one deep shot after another. He finished 17 for 23 for a career-high 376 yards and the four scores. Godwin finished with five catches for 135 yards.
Barkley also dove for a one-yard TD in the first half, and Robinson went 14 yards for a score with 6:33 remaining in the game.
Defense
MSU outgained the Lions 256-125 in the first half but only had four field goals to show for it because of some superb red-zone defense on PSU’s part. The Spartans, who were ahead 12-10 at the break, had minus-6 yards on 12 snaps inside the Lions’ 15.
PSU, which owned a 338-87 second-half yardage advantage, was helped in no small part by the fact that the Spartans lost running back L.J. Scott and quarterback Damion Terry in the second quarter. Scott, who suffered a knee injury, later returned. Terry did not.
Special teams
Tyler Davis kicked another field goal to improve to 21 for 23 this season. The two misses were blocks. Freshman punter Blake Gillikin averaged 51.5 yards on two first-half punts, then killed another at the Michigan State 2 early in the fourth quarter.
Turnstile report
The announced attendance in the 107,282-seat stadium was 97,418.
What’s next
The Lions face Big Ten West champion Wisconsin in the conference championship game next Saturday in Indianapolis.
