Saturday, September 11
East Lansing, MI
12 P.M.
Michigan State University
2-0 , 1-0
42
vs
14
Youngstown State
1-1 , 0-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Youngstown St.
0
7
7
0
14
Michigan St.
14
21
7
0
42
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Spartans Race Past Youngstown State, 42-14
9/11/2021 4:48:00 PM | Football
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State gained 588 yards of total offense and quarterback Payton Thorne completed 14-of-20 passes for 273 yards and a career-high four touchdowns as the Spartans defeated Youngstown State in the home opener at Spartan Stadium, 42-14, on Saturday afternoon.
Thorne's favorite receiver on the day was Jayden Reed, who hauled in four catches for 181 yards and two TDs. Jordon Simmons led the Spartans on the ground with 121 yards on 16 carries.
Xavier Henderson led the defense with eight tackles, including a 4-yard sack, and an acrobatic interception in the second quarter.
"I'm proud of our football team for what we were able to get done today," said MSU head coach Mel Tucker. "We challenged them during the week to get better, and to continue to improve and grind, to put the work in in the classroom, during film study, and also at practice with physical practices. We've been trying to get the most out of our guys and they responded to that. They didn't back down with me, they responded to that. We push them as hard as we possibly could. And we wanted to start fast. We wanted to start fast and come out here ready to play, ready to play football. I felt like our guys, our players were able to do that."
For the second consecutive game, the Spartans (2-0) scored on the first play, this time on a 75-yard pass from Thorne to Reed. Last week in the season opener at Northwestern, Walker raced 75 yards for a score on the MSU's first play from scrimmage. In limited action on Saturday, Walker had seven carries for 57 yards (8.1 avg.) and one touchdown, a week after accumulating a career-high 264 yards on the ground against the Wildcats.
Thorne upped MSU's lead to 14-0 midway through the first quarter as he scampered 10 yards into the end zone at the 7:54 mark.
Henderson prevented a potential Youngstown State scoring drive early in the second quarter with an acrobatic interception at the 2-yard line. Three plays later, Thorne connected on an 85-yard touchdown pass to Reed, the 11th longest in MSU history. Reed caught the ball at the MSU 47 and sprinted 53 yards to the end zone to put MSU on top, 21-0.
On MSU's fourth scoring drive of the game, Elijah Collins had three straight carries for 32 yards, then took a screen pass on the fourth play 20 yards for a touchdown for his first career receiving TD, making it 28-0 in favor of the Spartans.
Youngstown State got on the board with 4:10 left in the second quarter on a Demeatric Crenshaw 6-yard TD score, but the Spartans responded with a 11-play, 68-yard drive to close the half, capped by a 6-yard run by Walker.
The Penguins (1-1) scored on their first possession of the second half as Christian Turner went 26 yards for a touchdown.
Thorne found Jalen Nailor for a 16-yard pass in the end zone at the 4:32 mark of the third quarter for Thorne's fourth TD of the game.
"It was a great atmosphere, I really want to thank our fans," said Tucker. "Just a tremendous, tremendous showing. Our players were so excited to get back in our stadium with fans and with the band and the cheer team and the dance team and Sparty. It was very special for our group, for our young men and our coaches, myself included. We were really looking forward to that."
Michigan State returns to action Saturday, Sept. 18 at Miami. The Spartans and Hurricanes will kick at noon and the game will be televised on ABC.
Thorne's favorite receiver on the day was Jayden Reed, who hauled in four catches for 181 yards and two TDs. Jordon Simmons led the Spartans on the ground with 121 yards on 16 carries.
Xavier Henderson led the defense with eight tackles, including a 4-yard sack, and an acrobatic interception in the second quarter.
"I'm proud of our football team for what we were able to get done today," said MSU head coach Mel Tucker. "We challenged them during the week to get better, and to continue to improve and grind, to put the work in in the classroom, during film study, and also at practice with physical practices. We've been trying to get the most out of our guys and they responded to that. They didn't back down with me, they responded to that. We push them as hard as we possibly could. And we wanted to start fast. We wanted to start fast and come out here ready to play, ready to play football. I felt like our guys, our players were able to do that."
For the second consecutive game, the Spartans (2-0) scored on the first play, this time on a 75-yard pass from Thorne to Reed. Last week in the season opener at Northwestern, Walker raced 75 yards for a score on the MSU's first play from scrimmage. In limited action on Saturday, Walker had seven carries for 57 yards (8.1 avg.) and one touchdown, a week after accumulating a career-high 264 yards on the ground against the Wildcats.
Thorne upped MSU's lead to 14-0 midway through the first quarter as he scampered 10 yards into the end zone at the 7:54 mark.
Henderson prevented a potential Youngstown State scoring drive early in the second quarter with an acrobatic interception at the 2-yard line. Three plays later, Thorne connected on an 85-yard touchdown pass to Reed, the 11th longest in MSU history. Reed caught the ball at the MSU 47 and sprinted 53 yards to the end zone to put MSU on top, 21-0.
On MSU's fourth scoring drive of the game, Elijah Collins had three straight carries for 32 yards, then took a screen pass on the fourth play 20 yards for a touchdown for his first career receiving TD, making it 28-0 in favor of the Spartans.
Youngstown State got on the board with 4:10 left in the second quarter on a Demeatric Crenshaw 6-yard TD score, but the Spartans responded with a 11-play, 68-yard drive to close the half, capped by a 6-yard run by Walker.
The Penguins (1-1) scored on their first possession of the second half as Christian Turner went 26 yards for a touchdown.
Thorne found Jalen Nailor for a 16-yard pass in the end zone at the 4:32 mark of the third quarter for Thorne's fourth TD of the game.
"It was a great atmosphere, I really want to thank our fans," said Tucker. "Just a tremendous, tremendous showing. Our players were so excited to get back in our stadium with fans and with the band and the cheer team and the dance team and Sparty. It was very special for our group, for our young men and our coaches, myself included. We were really looking forward to that."
Michigan State returns to action Saturday, Sept. 18 at Miami. The Spartans and Hurricanes will kick at noon and the game will be televised on ABC.
Team Stats
YSU
MSU
Total Yards
304
588
Pass Yards
137
316
Rushing Yards
167
272
Penalty Yards
36
56
1st Downs
19
26
3rd Downs
9
4
4th Downs
4
1
TOP
33:20
26:40
1st Quarter
YSU 0, MSU 7
MSU - Reed,Jayden 75 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Coghlin,Matt kick) 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 00:10
YSU 0, MSU 14
MSU - Thorne,Payton 10 yd run (Coghlin,Matt kick), 6 plays, 58 yards, TOP 02:01
2nd Quarter
YSU 0, MSU 21
MSU - Reed,Jayden 85 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Coghlin,Matt kick) 3 plays, 98 yards, TOP 01:07
YSU 0, MSU 28
MSU - Collins,Elijah 20 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Coghlin,Matt kick) 4 plays, 52 yards, TOP 01:51
YSU 7, MSU 28
YSU - Crenshaw,Demeatric 6 yd run (McFadden,Colt kick), 12 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:02
YSU 7, MSU 35
MSU - Walker III,Kenneth 6 yd run (Coghlin,Matt kick), 11 plays, 68 yards, TOP 03:47
3rd Quarter
YSU 14, MSU 35
YSU - Turner,Christian 26 yd run (McFadden,Colt kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:06
YSU 14, MSU 42
MSU - Nailor,Jalen 16 yd pass from Thorne,Payton (Coghlin,Matt kick) 6 plays, 45 yards, TOP 02:07
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
14
TD
4
YDS
273
INT
0
CMP
5
TD
0
YDS
43
INT
0
Players Mentioned
RB
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S
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
RB
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