Michigan State Falls to Penn State, 28-10, on Senior Day

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State trailed by just four points at halftime but Penn State scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to break open a close game as the Spartans lost, 28-10, on Senior Day at Spartan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Redshirt senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver had six carries for 79 yards, including a 57-yard scoring run in the first quarter to give the Spartans the early lead, and caught eight passes for 73 yards. Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic completed 17-of-27 passes for 128 yards.

Redshirt senior defensive back Malcolm Bell and redshirt senior linebacker Wayne Matthews III each had eight tackles, including one for loss to lead the defense, while redshirt junior defensive lineman Alex VanSumeren had eight tackles and redshirt senior Darius Snow added six tackles.

SCORING SUMMARY

After forcing a three-and-out on Penn State's first drive, Michigan State scored on its first offensive play from scrimmage as Elijah Tau-Tolliver raced 57 yards to the end zone for his second touchdown of the season.

The Nittany Lions answered on their second series, driving 75 yards on 12 plays while taking 6:52 off the clock, evening the score at 7 on Kaytron Allen's 8-yard run.

MSU's defense stopped Penn State on fourth-and-1 from the Spartan 42-yard line at the beginning of the second quarter, and used that momentum to go another scoring drive. Martin Connington's 24-yard field goal with 8:40 left in the second put MSU back on top, 10-7, capping an eight-play, 52-yard drive for the Spartans.

The lead didn't last long for Michigan State, as Ethan Grunkemeyer connected with Devonte Ross on a 75-yard TD pass on Penn State's next play from scrimmage, giving the Nittany Lions a 14-10 advantage.

The teams traded field position in the third quarter as the score remained 14-10 heading into the fourth. Penn State took over at its own 24-yard line at the 13:37 mark in the final quarter and went on a long, methodical touchdown drive that went 76 yards on 13 plays and took 9:05 off the clock to take a 21-10 lead with 4:32 remaining. Ross took a flip pass from Grunkemeyer and went 4 yards for the touchdown on third-and-goal to cap the scoring drive.

Penn State added a 26-yard rushing touchdown from Allen with just over two minutes left to close out the scoring.

UP NEXT
Michigan State travels to play at Iowa on Saturday, Nov. 22 in the team's last road game of the season. The game time and TV will be announced at a later date.

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Team Stats

Alessio Milivojevic

Players Mentioned

Malcolm Bell

Martin Connington

Wayne Matthews III

Alessio Milivojevic

Darius Snow

Elijah Tau-Tolliver

Alex VanSumeren