Michigan State Football: 3 hot takes from blowout of Youngstown State

2. Payton Thorne is one of the Big Ten’s top quarterbacks

Before the season, this would have been the hottest take of all, but after two games, it’s pretty clear that Payton Thorne is one of the top quarterbacks in the conference — at least it’s clear to me.

Through the first two games of the year, Thorne is seventh in the conference in passing yards with 465 although he didn’t throw the ball much in the opener against Northwestern. He’s second in yards per attempt behind CJ Stroud at 10.1, fifth in touchdown passes with five (just two behind the Big Ten leader), sixth in completion percentage at 65, and has the second-highest passer rating in the conference behind Taulia Tagovailoa.

Everyone wanted to see him work on his deep-ball accuracy after the opener and he did just that against Youngstown State, throwing dime after dime down the field and he probably should have had five touchdown passes with just five incompletions, but Jalen Nailor dropped a perfectly-thrown touchdown pass.

Thorne looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten and arguably the best passer the Spartans have had since a healthy Brian Lewerke or even Connor Cook.

I get it, it’s just two games, but it wouldn’t be a hot take if it didn’t come with a debate.