WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Everything Mel Tucker harped on this week apparently fell on deaf ears.
Seven days after Michigan State rallied to beat Michigan at home in a top-10 battle and days after being ranked No. 3 in the first set of College Football Playoff rankings, the Spartans got thoroughly beaten Saturday at Purdue as the Boilermakers’ passing attacked picked apart the MSU secondary and Purdue took advantage of multiple Spartans mistakes on its way to a 40-29 victory at Ross-Ade Stadium.
An early fumble from Kenneth Walker III, two third-quarter personal fouls and a pass defense that offered little to no resistance all played a huge role in Michigan State’s first loss of the season.
Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 536 yards and three touchdowns while David Bell had 11 catches for 217 yards and a touchdown as the Boilermakers (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) piled up 594 total yards. O’Connell was the first player to throw for more than 500 yards against Michigan State since Bryce Petty went for 550 for Baylor in the 2015 Cotton Bowl.
Michigan State (8-1, 5-1), meanwhile, could never find a rhythm on offense. Walker finished with 146 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown, but the Spartans missed wide receiver Jalen Nailor and left tackle Jarrett Horst. Nailor hurt his hand last week while no explanation was given for Horst’s absence. Kicker Matt Coghlin also did not play.
Payton Thorne was 19 for 29 for 263 yards and two touchdowns, both to Tre Mosley, but the momentum was never sustained.
The mistakes came early for Michigan State, and it didn’t take long for Purdue to take advantage.
On the opening drive of the game, Walker fumbled — his first of the season — and the Boilermakers wasted little time. They went 62 yards on nine plays with O’Connell going 5 for 6, getting the 5-yard scoring pass to Bell when he slipped out of what looked like a sure sack as Jacub Panasiuk and Simeon Barrow nearly had O’Connell wrapped up.
The Spartans responded, getting a 35-yard pass from Thorne to Connor Heyward before Thorne scrambled and found Tre Mosley for a 26-yard touchdown, tying the score, 7-7, with 6:23 left in the first quarter.
The teams traded punts before Purdue got a 42-yard connection from O’Connell to Bell to set up an 8-yard touchdown pass to Broc Thompson, putting the Boilermakers back in front 14-7 with 13:23 left in the second quarter. Michigan State’s next drive stalled after a chop block penalty and a missed field goal from freshman Stephen Rusnak, and after the teams traded punts again, Purdue scored on a trick play as it reversed the ball twice before Jackson Anthrop galloped 39 yards for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
Michigan State kept it from getting out of hand, going 69 yards on 11 plays as Walker scored on a 14-yard run on fourth-and-2 to make it 21-14 just before the end of the half.
The Spartans struck first in the second half, forcing a turnover as Jeff Pietrowski knocked the ball from Purdue’s Zander Horvath and it was recovered by Darius Snow at the Purdue 41. Three plays later, Thorne scrambled 32 yards for a touchdown to tie the score, 21-21, with 12:19 left in the third quarter.
On the next drive, Purdue took advantage of back-to-back 15-yard penalties against Michigan State — one on Chester Kimbrough and a targeting call on Simeon Barrow — to move down and score on a 1-yard run from King Doerue to retake the lead, 28-21, with 9:31 left in the third quarter.
After a three-and-out for MSU, Purdue extended the lead to 31-21 on a 29-yard field goal from Mitchell Fineran with 6:31 left in the third quarter. Michigan State went three-and-out again and Purdue got two more field goals to go up, 37-21.
MSU tried to come back late and pulled within one possession after Thorne hit Mosley with an 11-yard touchdown pass and then hit Maliq Carr with a two-point conversion pass to make it 37-29. But the Michigan State defense couldn’t get a stop and the Boilermakers got a third field goal from Fineran to put the game away with 41 seconds to play.
