Penn State Football: Predicting the outcome of each game this season

Week 12: Vs Michigan State

Penn State will host Michigan State for senior day on Nov. 26.

The Spartans got the best of the Nittany Lions last year, winning 30-27.

Quarterback Payton Thorne returns after completing 60.4% of his passes for 3,232 yards and 27 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. His leading wide receiver, Jayden Reed is also back after catching 59 passes for 1,026 yards and 10 scores last year.

Michigan State will be without star running back Kenneth Walker though. Walker, who rushed for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns last year, is now a member of the Seattle Seahawks.

Replacing him will not be easy.

On defense, the Spartans bring back leading tackler Cal Haladay. This unit was solid against the run but was really bad against the pass. They allowed 324.8 passing yards per game last year.

To help address this problem, Mel Tucker brought in Georgia transfer cornerback Ameer Speed. Speed never got much of an opportunity at Georgia, that will change at Michigan State.

A good pass rush will help a weak secondary, but that doesn’t look like Michigan State’s strong suit in 2022. The two sack leaders from last year are gone, so transfer Khris Bogle was brought in from Florida. He had three sacks for the Gators last year. Jeff Pietrowski is also back after recording 5.5 sacks last year.

Both of these teams are going to want to throw the ball around in this one, but that may be difficult in a late November day in Central Pennsylvania. It’s hard to see Sean Clifford and other seniors not going all out on their senior day though.

Prediction: PSU 28 MSU 24