Payton Thorne: A
For a second straight game, Payton Thorne tossed four touchdown passes and two of them were arguably his best passes of the season.
Thorne had a couple of touchdowns to Jalen Nailor and Kenneth Walker III that were short routes that those guys made something out. But the late scores to Nailor and Jayden Reed were eye-opening. He was careful with the ball for more of the afternoon and really only missed a couple of passes, but he fired an absolute dart to Reed between two defenders to put MSU up 24-14.
Beautiful pass by Payton Thorne to Jayden Reed for the Michigan State TD. This comes right after the Spartans defense forced a fumble. MSU has turned the momentum in their favor.
— Brendan Moore (@bmoorecfb) September 18, 2021
MICHIGAN STATE 24
MIAMI 14 https://t.co/LC93MVURBv
He then hit Nailor on a 39-yard bomb to pretty much put the game out of reach, giving the Spartans a 31-17 lead. I was really impressed with this throw and catch because it took some guts to take the shot and Thorne didn’t shy away from it.
Payton Thorne and Jalen Nailor connect for the 2nd time today and #Sparty is rolling to the finish line! #MichiganState up 31-17 on Miami. #GoGreen
— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) September 18, 2021
https://t.co/C9oL1wszjg
What goes unnoticed here is the fact that Thorne’s first option was Reed and it looked like he was going to force something, decided against it, remained calm, and went through his progressions to find a wide-open Nailor down the field. He fired a perfect pass to give Michigan State an insurmountable 31-17 lead.
Thorne finished the day with 261 yards and four touchdowns on 18-of-31 completions and he now has nine touchdowns and no picks on the year.