Michigan State Football: Positional grades for Youngstown State win

Quarterback: A

If there was any doubt about Mel Tucker’s QB1 decision before Week 1, it has definitely been squashed by the play of Payton Thorne.

After completing 60 percent of his passes for 185 yards and a touchdown in the opener, he followed up with the best game by a Michigan State quarterback since 2000. No, that’s not a joke. Thorne finished with the highest quarterback rating in a single game of any Michigan State quarterback since the turn of the century.

https://twitter.com/MichiganStOnBTN/status/1437449154381365253?s=20

That is a wild stat and it just goes to show just how well he played and how few mistakes he made. He completed 16-of-21 passes for 280 yards and four touchdowns and he would have had a fifth touchdown on a dime of a long throw down the field to Jalen Nailor but it was dropped in the end zone. He had a fantastic day.

After the Northwestern game, fans wanted to see him execute the deep ball more and show some accuracy down the field and he did just that. He had a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the game and then an 85-yarder later to Jayden Reed.

Thorne was throwing dimes all afternoon long and he added 19 yards rushing and another touchdown.

Anthony Russo came in and struggled a bit which is the only reason this quarterback grade isn’t a rare A+. He was 5-for-7 with 43 yards but he lost a fumble near the goal line late and appeared to suffer an injury.

Thorne could be a special talent here in East Lansing.