Michigan State football: 3 implications of massive win over No. 6 Michigan

1. Payton Thorne is special and will only get better

Thorne wasn’t right all game. He made some bad plays, but did good as signal-caller. He called the game he needed to call.

Most notably, his best pass of his career was a fourth-and-four gem to Jayden Reed. He didn’t step up as much as he needed to (Michigan State didn’t convert a single third down until the game’s final 15 minutes), but that was a massive throw for him.

It’s not just about Thorne being impressive for Michigan State either. Sure, if Kenneth Walker III doesn’t declare for the draft next year he’ll be back. But Thorne is only a sophomore. He’ll return next year and he could potentially return the following year.

Even at Michigan State’s lowest, it never felt like they were out of it. It all starts up front with Thorne. Where penalties were killing the Spartans in previous games, Thorne was out in the second half screaming “no penalties” to his offense. He led this team when it mattered the most.

The Spartans entered the game ranked 110th in FBS in penalties per game with 7.57. Virginia Tech leads with 3.43 per game. Michigan State committed 12 penalties against Indiana, which ultimately led to them scraping by with a 20-15 victory, somehow.

Penalties ended several drives. In the fourth quarter, Michigan State committed one penalty: holding. With seven minutes in the game, Thorne made sure that it was the last penalty they’d commit, and it was. Not a single penalty for the rest of the game on offense.

Thorne led the Spartans to a touchdown and they went up 37-33.

There are certain things that Michigan State is doing every week. They have the “it” factor and they keep winning. I don’t know if it’s luck or if it’s just Walker, or maybe it’s the Big Ten backloading their schedules so their teams appear to be better than they are. Either way, it’s working and Michigan State is 8-0 with a trip to Indianapolis in sight.

Ohio State will be waiting on Nov. 20.