Post-Game Notes: Miami

TEAM

• Michigan State earned its first win over Miami in the five-game series history, as Saturday was the first meeting since 1989.

• MSU head coach Mel Tucker collected his third win over an AP Top 25 team while leading the Spartans, including two of the three on the road (No. 13 Michigan in 2020; No. 24 Miami in 2021) . . . with Saturday's win over No. 24 Miami, five of Tucker's 10 career wins as a head coach have come against AP Top 25 opponents (2021: No. 24 Miami; 2020: No. 11 Northwestern and No. 13 Michigan; 2019: No. 25 Nebraska and No. 24 Arizona State at Colorado).

OFFENSE

• Michigan State has scored at least 38 points in all three games this season (38 at Northwestern, 42 vs. Youngstown State, 38 vs. Miami) . . . it marks the first time MSU has scored at least 38 points in its first three games since 2005.

• Junior running back Kenneth Walker III registered his second 100-yard rushing outing of the season, with 172 yards on 27 carries, joining his 264-yard Spartan debut at Northwestern on Sept. 3 . . . with a 26-yard scamper in the first quarter, Walker III now has at least one rush of 24-plus yards in each of the three games this season, with a long of 75-yards in the season-opener at Northwestern and 24-yards last week vs. Youngstown State . . . Walker added to that with a 25-yard run in the second quarter.

• Walker recorded his first reception of the season with a second-quarter catch and later snared the first TD reception of his collegiate career with a 7-yard TD pass from Thorne.

• Walker now has at least one TD in each of the three games, with a career-best four rushing TDs in the opener at Northwestern, adding one rushing score last week vs. Youngstown State.

• Sophomore quarterback Payton Thorne was 18-for-31 passing for 261 yards with a career-high tying four TDs for the second straight game . . . Thorne becomes just the second Spartan quarterback in school history to throw for four touchdowns in back-to-back games (Connor Cook, 2015, vs. Indiana and Nebraska) . . . Thorne has nine TD passes this season.

• Junior wide receiver Jalen Nailor snared a TD catch for the second straight game with his career-high tying two scoring catches as part of four receptions for 82 yards, both team-highs on the day . . . Nailor's two TDs matched his career-high vs. Penn State (12/12/20) . . . he now has at least one TD catch in each of the last two games as part of nine career TD receptions.

• Junior wide receiver Jayden Reed had three catches for 32 yards with one TD, adding two rushes for 17 yards and another TD . . . Reed now has three overall TDs in last two games with one TD reception last week.

• Sophomore wide receiver Tre Mosley's 51-yard reception in the second quarter was a new career-long, bettering his previous long of 26-yards in the Northwestern game.

DEFENSE

• Michigan State forced a season-high four turnovers (interceptions by Angelo Grose and Ronald Williams; forced fumbles by Jeff Pietrowski and Drew Beesley).

• Senior safety Xavier Henderson has now led or shared the lead for the MSU defense in all three games this season . . . Henderson had eight tackles Saturday, as he has had eight or more stops in all three games, led by a career-high tying nine tackles in season-opener vs. Northwestern.

• Senior defensive end Drew Beesley tied a career-high with two sacks, matching his 2.0 sacks last season vs. Northwestern (11/28/20) . . . Beesley now has 6.5 career sacks as part of 13.5 career tackles for loss . . . the forced fumble was the second of career.

• Senior cornerback Ronald Williams and sophomore safety Angelo Grose both snared their first career interceptions with Williams' fourth-quarter INT and Grose's second-quarter oskie.

• Graduate senior defensive end Jacub Panasiuk played in his 47th career game, which leads all active offense and defense Spartan players, trailing only placekicker Matt Coghlin . . . Panasiuk added one tackle for loss, on the game's first play from scrimmage, and now has 3.0 TFLs this season and 24.0 for his career, moving up to tie for No. 33 on MSU's career TFL list.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Senior placekicker Matt Coghlin's 23-yard field goal was his second made upright split this season and is now 2-of-5 for the year, as well as 66-of-90 for his career.

• Senior punter Bryce Baringer's 65-yard punt in the third quarter was a new season-long, bettering a 57-yarder from Northwestern game (9/3/21) . . . Baringer punted five times Saturday for a career-high 54.6 ypp average, and tied a career-high with four going for 50+ yards, adding a 57-yarder and a 52-yarder in the first half to go with a 51-yarder in the third quarter . . . he now has six punts of 50+ yards this season and 20 in his career.

Players Mentioned

Bryce Baringer

Drew Beesley

Matt Coghlin

Angelo Grose

Xavier Henderson

Tre Mosley

Jalen Nailor

Jacub Panasiuk

Jeff Pietrowski Jr.

Jayden Reed

Payton Thorne

Kenneth Walker III

Ronald Williams II