A lot can happen in a year.
Just a year after winning the Big Ten, Michigan State went 3-9. The team only had one conference win, and lost nine of its last 10 games.
Coach Mark Dantonio has been one of the more successful coaches in the country over the last few years. From 2013-2015, the Spartans won at least 10 games every year — including Big Ten titles in 2013 and 2015.
On Nov. 4, the Spartans were ranked No. 24, and they hosted the defending conference champion and seventh-ranked Nittany Lions.
The Spartans only allowed 63 rushing yards to Saquon Barkley, and for the first time in 16 games Barkley didn’t score a TD of any kind. He did throw a 20-yard pass to Mike Gesicki.
Trace McSorley would bounce back after an interception on the Nittany Lions first drive with a 31-yard touchdown to DeSean Hamilton.
After a Spartan TD, McSorley would throw a 27-yard TD pass to Saeed Blacknall on a fourth down to take the lead back.
When Michigan State got the ball next, the rain picked up. Because there was lightning in the area, the game was delayed.
The Nittany Lion mascot passed the time by dancing with Sparty — Michigan State’s mascot.
After almost four hours, the game would resume, and MSU would score a TD to tie the game at 14 going into halftime.
The Spartans would take their first lead of the game with another touchdown in the third quarter.
Penn State would answer back with 10 unanswered points — including another McSorley TD pass. This one was a 70-yard pass to a wide open DeAndre Thompkins.
The Spartans would tie the game with a field goal on their next drive.
Both quarterbacks would throw interceptions. This would be McSorley’s third of the game. Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke’s only interception of the game cost Michigan State a chance to score.
After the Spartan turnover, Penn State would drive all the way down to the Spartan 31-yard line. This led to the most important decision of the game.
Instead of attempting a 48-yard field goal, PSU coach James Franklin decided to go for the first down again. Unlike the second touchdown, Penn State would fail to convert this time.
Lewerke would throw for 400 yards. Twenty-one of those yards would come on the final drive. A roughing-the-passer penalty would put the Spartans in field goal range.
Michigan State would win the game 27-24 after a last-second field goal.
This outcome — along with Iowa destroying Ohio State 55-24 — would drastically change the college football playoff rankings.
The top five teams would remain the same — Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Oklahoma. The next five teams would change quite a bit. TCU, Miami, Wisconsin, Washington and Auburn would finish the top 10.
After USC at 11, MSU, OSU and PSU took the next three spots.
For the Nittany Lion mascot, things got better. On Monday he found out that he would be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. The Nittany Lion is the eighth college mascot to receive this honor. The others include Aubie the Tiger from Auburn, Brutus Buckeye (Ohio State), Bucky Badger (Wisconsin), YoUDee (Delaware), Smokey (Tennessee), Big Red (Western Kentucky) and Lil’ Red (Nebraska).
The Nittany Lions will return to Beaver Stadium for homecoming/military appreciation day when they play Rutgers on Nov. 11 — Veterans Day.
The new Hall-of-Famer will be there too as always. Through thick and thin the mascot always seems to be around on the sidelines cheering on the Nittany Lions.
He continues to prove that the more things change, the more things stay the same.
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