Michigan State Football: 3 reasons Spartans will win Peach Bowl vs. Pitt

1. Payton Thorne will feast vs. Pitt’s pass defense

Payton Thorne has had a really good season for Michigan State. He passed for 2,886 yards and 24 touchdowns during the regular season while completing about 61 percent of his throws. He’s on the verge of becoming the sixth quarterback in school history to pass for over 3,000 yards in a single season, joining Drew Stanton, Kirk Cousins, Connor Cook, Brian Lewerke, and Jeff Smoker.

The sophomore quarterback hasn’t had many bad performances and makes just about every throw without too many mistakes and he’s even fared well against tough defenses this year.

Pitt does not have a good pass defense. In fact, the Panthers rank 105th in college football against the pass which has to be music to Thorne’s ears, especially because he’s getting Jalen Nailor back for the first time since Oct. 30, and Jayden Reed will also be back and at full strength.

There’s a decent chance Jarrett Horst will be playing which will strengthen the line and if that’s the case, I can see him standing back there all day long and carving up the Pitt defense.

Thorne is going to feast against this mediocre pass defense and I honestly see him having the best game of his sophomore season. He’s 510 yards away from breaking the single-season passing record at Michigan State and while I don’t think he’ll reach that, I don’t think 400 is out of the question.

Michigan State’s passing attack is going to put up some serious numbers.