Not Wanting to be Upstaged by an Unexpected First-Half Sparty Party, Penn State OC Kirk Ciarrocca Finally Reached to the Top Shelf and Broke Out the “Good Stuff” in the Final 30 Minutes.
Thanks, Payton.
Who the heck is Payton, you ask?
Oh, that’s Payton Thorne, true freshman QB at Michigan State…you know the guy with cartoon stickers on the sides of his helmet – and probably his school Trapper Keeper — who lit up Penn State like a menorah in the first half. 202 passing yards. 12 consecutive completions. 3 passing TDs. Yeah, THAT Payton. That’s the guy. Thank him.
Because without Payton’s performance, it’s likely we don’t get a glimpse of anything beyond the DEMO version of Kirk Ciarrocca’s playbook. Trailing 21-10 entering the 3rd Quarter, Penn State had no choice but to order plays off-menu, diverting away from the Soylent Slants, Inside Runs, and QB Keepers that paper-cutted Michigan, Rutgers, and most of our attention spans into submission.
In a brief but beautiful moment – like a comet racing across the night sky, or putting on your winter coat for the first time since March and finding $20 in the pocket – Penn State flung the ball all over the empty Beav. In the third quarter, 13 of 18 plays (14 of 19 if you count the 2-point attempt) were passes that amassed 129 yards – 37 more than the Nits tallied the entire first half.
And then, POOF…like cotton candy on your tongue, it was gone.
