PLAYERS TO WATCH
–QB Trace McSorley has only lost back-to-back games once as a starter and it happened last year when the Nittany Lions dropped a road game to Michigan State after losing to Ohio State. The Spartan rushing defense is the top unit in the nation and McSorley is coming off a career-best 175 rushing yards against Ohio State.
–RB Miles Sanders was held to just 43 yards on 16 carries against Ohio State. Yards should be tough to come by in this one too, but Sanders has the talent to rip off big gains.
–WR Juwan Johnson leads the team in drops in what was supposed to be a breakout campaign. He has just 17 catches for 202 yards and one touchdown on the season so far. It might be time for that big game, however. The Spartans rank 123rd in the country against the pass.
–DE Shareef Miller has been a presence up front all season where he leads the team with three sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss. Michigan State has already surrendered 12 sacks and 31 tackles behind the line of scrimmage on the season.
SERIES HISTORY: Michigan State leads Penn State 16-15-1. The Spartans won the last meeting 27-24 at Spartan Stadium last season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I think the trajectory of the program and what we’re doing is really good, but I’ve talked about this for a while. You know, as hard as we’ve worked to get to where we are now, there’s another step that has to happen, and that is difficult to do. That is challenging to do, and every stage you get to, you fight like heck to get to that stage and then break through and get to that next level and that’s kind of where we’re at.” — Penn State coach James Franklin on his message to the team after losing to Ohio State.
