Spoilermakers: Purdue's passing attack deals Michigan State its first loss

West Lafayette, Ind. — From the cheap seats, the critics will likely say Michigan State wasn’t ready on Saturday, likely too busy still basking in the glow of last week’s win over Michigan and a lofty national ranking.

That, however, would be ignoring some troubling signs that have existed most of the season, namely the Spartans' inability to get off the field on third down and the huge chunks of yards they’ve been allowing through the air.

It was all on display at Ross-Ade Stadium, and as a huge chunk of the 57,748 poured onto the field, deliriously celebrating Purdue’s 40-29 upset of No. 3 Michigan State, the reality of the situation was sinking in quickly for the Spartans.

“It doesn’t catch up with you until it catches up with you,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said, his press conference taking place just yards from the elated masses that were finally making their way off the field well after the game had ended.

He was right, of course.

For weeks, Michigan State was having a hard time containing the passing attacks of the teams it was playing. Michigan went off for 406 yards last week and the Spartans had allowed 488 to Western Kentucky and 388 earlier to Miami.

Those were all obliterated on Saturday.

BOX SCORE: Purdue 40, Michigan State 29

Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 536 yards and three touchdowns, David Bell had 11 receptions for 217 yards and the Boilermakers (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) piled up 594 total yards.

“Story of the season, isn't it?” safety Xavier Henderson said. “We’ve got to be better with our technique, I think. Maybe that's something we need to work on a little bit more practice. We even got the defense together (this week) with some extra time in the afternoon to watch third downs, but they still weren't able to get off. So that’s got to be fixed.

“They just made more plays than we did. (Defensive coordinator Scottie) Hazelton really called a decent game. He put us in the best position, but we just didn't make enough plays, especially in the back end.”

O’Connell’s passing day was the third-best in Purdue history and it was the first time Michigan State allowed a quarterback to throw for more than 500 yards since Baylor’s Bryce Petty threw for 550 in the 2015 Cotton Bowl. The Boilermakers finished 11-for-18 on third-down conversions, but at one point in the second half was 10-for-13 and converted their only fourth-down try.

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Combined with a Michigan State offense that never truly found its rhythm and went three-and-out on back-to-back drives in the third quarter, it was far too much for the Spartans to overcome.

“It was a great day for us,” Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said. “Our guys came ready to play. We came out here and beat a really good Michigan State team that was 8-0 and the way we did is a great testament.”

Purdue played well, to be sure, but Michigan State wasn’t nearly at its best. Injuries played a role as wide receiver Jalen Nailor and left tackle Jarrett Horst were out, cornerbacks Ronald Williams and Charles Brantley were battling injuries and kicker Matt Coghlin was unavailable.

It all was compounded by some critical mistakes and even costlier penalties as an early fumble from Kenneth Walker III and two third-quarter personal fouls helped lead to the first loss of the season for the Spartans. Walker finished with 146 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown and Payton Thorne was 20-for-30 passing for 263 yards and two touchdowns, both to Tre Mosley, but momentum was never sustained.

“There was never any doubt in our mind that we could get it done,” Tucker said. “But if you don't execute and they do execute, then you're gonna get beat. And that's what happened.”

More: Injuries to key pieces on offense, in secondary hamper Spartans in upset

The mistakes came early for Michigan State (8-1, 5-1), 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 Mosley for a 26-yard touchdown, tying the game at 7 with 6:23 left in the first quarter. Purdue pulled away from there on TD passes to Broc Thompson and Jackson Anthrop before Michigan State closed to 21-14 just before halftime on Walker’s 14-yard touchdown run.

“They’ve got good players and the quarterback was able to read kind of what we were in,” Henderson said. “He was just decisive with the ball and they just made plays.”

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 game at 21 with 12:19 left in the third quarter.

On the next drive, Purdue took advantage of back-to-back 15-yard penalties on Michigan State — one on Chester Kimbrough and a targeting call on Barrow — to move down and score on a 1-yard run from King Doerue to regain 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. Michigan State went three-and-out again and Purdue got two more field goals as Thorne was intercepted near the goal line to extend the lead to 37-21.

“We went in to score and then tied it and then I think we had two three-and-outs in a row,” Thorne said. “That’s not going to get done. Not at all. We had to be better there. We need to get first downs. We put ourselves in good situations but then we had a couple of third-and-longs and that just comes down to execution. We didn't execute the times that we needed to.”

The Spartans attempted to muster a comeback 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 with 5:03 to play.

But the Michigan State defense couldn’t get a stop and the Boilermakers got a fourth field goal from Fineran to put the game away with 41 seconds to play.

Michigan State now must regroup with Maryland coming to Spartan Stadium next weekend before closing the regular season with Ohio State and Penn State.

“We need to block out all of the noise in terms of, ‘They're not this, they're not that,’” Tucker said. “That doesn't have anything to do with what we need to do. We need to prepare like crazy and it hurts because they're disappointed, obviously. I mean, they're very disappointed. But at the same time, we need to move on. We can be disappointed for a little while, but we need to quickly move on to what's next because the clock is ticking. We’ve got to get ready for the next game.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau