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DETROIT — Give these Michigan State fans credit.
They’ve endured a 4-8 season to forget, starting with the September suspension and subsequent firing of their coach, Mel Tucker, after an alleged sexcapade.
And yet, here they were at Ford Field, singing karaoke songs Friday night, well into a 42-0 loss to Penn State.
Indoor stadiums can get loud so other than the music, it was important not to let the home team create early momentum.
The Nittany Lions’ defense took that challenge, quickly setting a tone by rebuffing two of the Spartans’ first-half drives deep into PSU territory.
Jaylen Reed’s first-quarter interception at the Lions’ 9 turned back what would prove to be Michigan State’s deepest advance of the night.
“I thought that was a big play in the game,” Reed, a Detroit native, said.
Sparty spent the rest of the game basically being pushed backward as the Lions limited MSU to a mere 68 total yards, five first downs and forced 10 punts.
Manny Diaz sent the Lions’ wealth of defensive riches in waves, and they wound up with 12 tackles for loss, including seven sacks, while recording their third shutout of the season.
“We’ve played really good defense for a long time, but Manny and the staff have taken it to another level,” James Franklin said.
Michigan State faced fourth-and-20-plus a half-dozen times and couldn’t wait for the game to end, evidenced by the fact that it was still running up the middle down 28-0.
On those occasions, the fans interrupted their songs to boo.
“I thought it was a good atmosphere and an impactful crowd,” Reed said.
The boos were music to the Nittany Lions’ ears as they capped a 10-2 regular-season — their fifth 10-win season in the last eight years under Franklin and second straight.
“Very few programs in the country have done that,” he said. “Ten wins with a chance to go 1-0 and win 11, hopefully in a New Year’s Six bowl game like last year.”
Offensively, Drew Allar returned from last week’s injury and threw the ball well, completing 17 of 26 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the regular season with an impressive touchdown-interception ratio of 24-1.
A renewed emphasis was placed on the running game as both Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton were featured on the ground and as receivers. Each surpassed the 100-yard mark rushing, and each had 50-yard gains.
Penn State, No. 11 in the College Football Playoff ratings, will now await its bowl assignment.
The bowl game should provide another high-profile opportunity, albeit not named Michigan or Ohio State, against which to finish the season strong.
“Obviously,” Franklin said, “there are some steps we have to take.”
Franklin praised Michigan State interim coach Harlon Barnett for handling “challenging circumstances,” and it’s already being reported that MSU has zeroed in on Oregon State’s head coach, Jonathan Smith.
Whoever gets the job will have his hands full rebuilding the Spartans, who aren’t the only Big Ten team struggling.
While it’s clear the upper tier of the conference is a touchdown or so better than the Lions, it’s equally apparent that the remainder of the Big Ten faces an even wider gap to close.
And it’s only going to get worse next year with the addition of more legitimate competition (Washington, Oregon, USC, UCLA).
Iowa can boast about winning the Big Ten West, but its offense is downright offensive, not to mention that the Hawkeyes faced neither Ohio State or Michigan this year and lost to the Lions, 31-0.
In that regard, whether it’s Iowa, Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers or Michigan State, it’s hard to get overly excited about any of the Lions’ conference victories.
That’s just how bad the rest of the league is, and the sooner that changes in the Big Ten, the better off its competitive balance will be.
For now, though, the Nittany Lions can take some solace at being able to look down at the vast majority of the league and roll into the bowl season feeling good about themselves.
Rudel can be reached at [email protected].