ATLANTA — The offense was stuck in the mud most of the night, but when it mattered most, the Spartans got the big plays they needed.
Payton Thorne, who struggled for much of the game, threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes — the first to Connor Heyward and another to Jayden Reed with 2:51 to play — to rally No. 10 Michigan State to a 31-21 victory over No. 12 Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl on Thursday in front of 41,230 fans at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Thorne finished 29-for-50 passing for 354 yards and three touchdowns, while Reed had six catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Nailor, back in the lineup after missing four games, caught six passes for 108 yards and the Spartans (11-2) piled up 411 yards of offense and won 11 games for just the sixth time in program history.
Michigan State thwarted a potential Pitt comeback when linebacker Cal Haladay intercepted a pass and returned it 78 yards for a touchdown with 22 seconds to play.
Pittsburgh (11-3) entered the game without Heisman finalist quarterback Kenny Pickett and lost backup Nick Patti after he injured his shoulder on a first-quarter touchdown run, giving way to third string Davis Beville. The Panthers offense didn’t do much most of the game, but the defense was outstanding, limiting Michigan State to 57 rushing yards and scoring a touchdown of its own on a scoop-and-score fumble return for a score.
Beville did what he could, but in the end his interception killed the Panthers, who got 114 yards on seven receptions from wide receiver Jordan Addison.
Michigan State controlled much of the first half, yet thanks to a handful of mistakes, the Spartans managed to trail, 14-10, at halftime despite scoring less than two minutes into the game and knocking the Panthers’ quarterback out, forcing Pitt to turn to a third-string signal caller.
The Spartans were rolling early after the Panthers mishandled the opening kickoff and started at their 2. Michigan State forced a three-and-out and after Reed returned the punt to the Pitt 29, it took three plays for the Spartans to find the end zone when Thorne connected with Reed for a 28-yard scoring strike on third down.
Pitt responded in impressive fashion, marching 75 yards on 12 plays for a drive that took more than five minutes off the clock and featured plenty of running against the Michigan State defense. It included a pair of third-down conversions, including the final play when Patti scrambled for 16 yards and dove to the pylon for a touchdown that tied the score at 7.
It was a heck of a response, but it came with a price as Patti was knocked from the game with an injured left shoulder, leading to Beville taking over.
It looked like a break for the Spartans, but the mistakes started coming soon after. Michigan State moved into the red zone on its next drive, but a false start penalty pushed the Spartans back and forced a 36-yard field goal from Matt Coghlin to give MSU a 10-7 lead. After forcing a punt on Pitt’s next drive, the Spartans got to the Panthers 5 but failed to come away with points after another false start call and a missed 33-yard field-goal attempt from Coghlin.
Michigan State had another chance late in the half, but Thorne threw an interception inside the Pitt 20 with just more than two minutes to play. And after punting on its three previous drives, the Panthers got a 52-yard pass from Beville to Addison and then took a 14-10 lead when Beville hit Jared Wayne for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 1:02 left in the half.
Things kept going the wrong direction for Michigan State in the second half as Thorne threw behind Nailor on the opening play, one that would have been a huge gain. After another incomplete pass, Thorne scrambled and fumbled when he was hit. The ball was scooped up by Pitt’s Cam Bright, who returned it 26 yards for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead for the Panthers only 20 seconds into the second half.
Michigan State could get nothing going offensively in the third quarter and couldn’t take advantage of fake punt that picked up a first down followed later by another fourth-down conversion.
The Spartans opened the fourth quarter with its best drive of the second half, going 70 yards on 13 play, converting a fourth down along the way before Thorne hit Heyward with a 15-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed as MSU was flagged for a fifth false start penalty and the Pitt lead was 21-16 with 8:06 to play.
Michigan State’s defense then forced another three-and-out to get the ball back with 5:37 to play, starting at its 29. The Spartans’ offense got it done, converting three third downs on the way to taking the lead on Thorne’s 22-yard pass to Reed followed by a two-point conversion pass from Thorne to Nailor with 2:51 to play.
The Spartans then put the game away with the Haladay interception.
