Gambling Mark Dantonio, Spartans go all in, cash in vs. Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mark Dantonio slammed his hand on the table.

In that moment, a postgame interview session turned into a metaphorical poker game. And Michigan State’s coach was all in and about to show his hand.

Don’t think the Spartans can run the ball? Keep running it.

Two trick plays? How about a third?

Doubt his defense? He won’t.

His players saw that Saturday. And they responded.

“Coach D is gonna take chances. He’s got championship DNA,” senior safety Khari Willis said. “We’re gonna back him up. That’s our guy. We’re gonna back him up. That’s our guy – we go as he go.

“He had the confidence.”

Injuries and attrition, struggles and doubters be damned. MSU played Dantonioball all afternoon at No. 8 Penn State, even if it was far from perfection.

And it worked. Yet again.

The Spartans pulled off their second upset of the Nittany Lions in as manyyears, only this time is was even more improbable. Quarterback Brian Lewerke’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Felton Davis III with 19 seconds to play gave them a 21-17 victory to stun most of the 106,685 at Beaver Stadium.

“We talked about these type of things, how we were going to have to come into this environment and play,” Dantonio said. “It was going to be a tough environment, but it was just going to be hang around, just keep hanging around, and good things are gonna happen.”

They did. As a result, injury-plagued MSU (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) enters next Saturday’s rivalry game with No. 13 Michigan (noon, Fox) at home with a rejuvenated attitude and energy.

And more importantly, the win over Penn State (4-2, 1-2) renewed hope in being able to still somehow seize the Big Ten East with a ragtag group (thanks to a glut of injuries) that looks nothing like it did at the beginning of the season.

“It’s big-time,” said Lewerke, who finished 24-of-52 for 259 yards and two TD passes to Davis. “Trying to get those top three teams that we gotta play in the East, we always gotta step up and perform in those big games. And I think we did a good job of that (Saturday).”

The Spartans defeated then-No. 7 Penn State last year at Spartan Stadium, 27-24, on a last-second field goal.

This one felt much different, and much more urgent for an MSU team coming off its second loss of the season and searching for answers on offense.

MSU busted out two first-half trick plays that worked to perfection. On a punt fake, Connor Heyward took the ball as the upback and gained 26 yards for a drive-saving first down.

Two plays later, the sophomore took a handoff from Lewerke, rolled to his right, pulled up and lofted a deep spiral that WR Cam Chambers ran under for a 36-yard catch to put the Spartans at the Nittany Lions' 1.

La’Darius Jefferson eventually pushed the the ball in for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7, aided on the drive by a Penn State penalty after it had stopped MSU three times.

After allowing 169 yards rushing in the first five games, MSU's run defense got gashed early by running back Miles Sanders. He ripped off a 78-yard run up the middle to set up the Nittany Lions’ first touchdown, then evaded six would-be Spartan tacklers to score a 48-yard touchdown that put them ahead 14-7 at halftime.

“You learn how to throw punches back and forth,” linebacker Joe Bachie said. “If they’re gonna throw punches at us, we’re gonna throw them at them. That big play, we responded and got off the ground. They hit us again for another one. … But we stayed in the fight the whole game.”

MSU tied it in the third quarter on Lewerke’s 20-yard TD pass to Davis, who finished with eight catches for 100 yards. Later, Nittany Lions kicker Jake Pinegar’s 20-yard field goal gave them a 17-14 lead with 9:21 to play.

The Spartans, however, remain undaunted. After all, they were playing with house money — those poker chips Dantonio and his players carry — and could shake things up.

So they did.

Lewerke drove them into Penn State territory after the field goal, but the drive stalled at the 22-yard line. The field goal unit came out, but Dantonio called for another fake. The throw, from holder Lewerke to Raequan Williams, looked like it was going to work, but Penn State’s Garrett Taylor leapt in and broke up the pass.

Dantonio did it because he trusted in MSU’s defense, and it rewarded him by clamping down to force a punt after allowing 15 yards on the first play.

The Spartans got the ball back with 4:09 left, but that drive also stalled. Facing fourth-and-10 at his own 35 after a sack of Lewerke, Dantonio opted to punt and play defense.

“We did have three timeouts left,” Dantonio said. “I felt like if we could stop them, they were probably going to run the ball and use the clock and our timeouts, and we’d get the ball back one more time and have a shot at it.”

It would prove to be a wise move.

It was all Lewerke and his remaining pass catchers on the last eight-play, 76-yard drive that started with 1:19 to play.

He hit Heyward on a screen for 11 yards, and then two big passes to Laress Nelson got MSU into Penn State territory. Davis got hurt on an incompletion but returned two plays later.

On the final score, Davis broke deep, adjusted his route and caught the ball at the 2-yard line. The senior shook a defender and sneaked over the goal line as MSU’s sideline piled onto the field.

Pain in his hip was not going to keep Davis off the field at that point, he said. Penn State was not going to keep him out of the end zone.

Dantonio’s gamble on his players’ grit and tenacity paid off.

“At the end of the day,” Davis said, “we just sucked it up.”

Related:

Michigan State football: Good grades for gutty effort, aggressiveness

Windsor: Michigan State's stunning win over Penn State among Dantonio's gutiest

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!