50 defining moments from the 2021 Michigan State football season: No. 46

Welcome back to day five of the series. Today is another big Michigan State football play, this time from the explosive Jayden Reed.

Welcome back to day five of the series. Today we see another big play, this time from Jayden Reed. Speaking of Reed, did you know he and Payton Thorne were high school teammates?

For those of you who missed yesterday’s article, please click here. If you would like to look at previous articles of this series, feel free to scroll through my writing profile.

No. 46: Jayden Reed 85-yard TD reception vs. YSU

Game 2: 42-14 win vs. Youngstown State

Why No. 46?

This play was one of the longest of the 2021 Michigan State football season. After a Xavier Henderson interception thwarted Youngstown State from getting on the board to make it a one-score game, Michigan State only needed a few plays to flip the game from “shockingly close” to “rout.”

In a game with Kenneth Walker III receiving very few touches for load management, the passing game came alive to spark the Spartans. Jayden Reed made this a 21-point game, a lead that would remain the rest of the contest.

Reed ran a very basic post route with devastating effectiveness, splitting two Youngstown State defensive backs to record his second touchdown of the game. This play was exciting and occurred right after the game started to look a tad bit questionable. As someone who lived through the Utah State-Michigan State matchup in 2018, I was seeing flashbacks to the past of an unreasonably close game against an overmatched opponent. The situation that this play occurred in helped propel it onto my list.

This play cannot be higher than No. 46, however, as the Spartans massacred the Penguins by four scores and, as stated before, was never in doubt after this play.

Statistically, this play was one of Reed’s 13 touchdowns last year and one of his 11 scores from scrimmage. Reed ranked 10th in the Big Ten last year in touchdowns from scrimmage, with this play being one that helped push him into that top 10. This contributed to Thorne’s school record-setting season and is currently the longest pass of his collegiate career.

While writing this, I realized something unique about the 2021 Spartan season. This play is not the longest of the year, as we all know. However, this also is not Reed’s longest play of the year, which I will discuss in an upcoming moment.

If you would like a hint for tomorrow’s article, it will be the first defensive moment of the series.