EAST LANSING—
Daryll Clark hurled four third-quarter touchdown passes -- and five in the game -- as 14th-rated Penn State blew open a tight game with Michigan State to prevail 42-14 at Spartan Stadium late Saturday afternoon.Michigan State fell even to close out its regular season at 6-6 while longtime Nittany Lion coach Joe Paterno's Penn State crew checked in at 10-2. The Nittany Lions' only losses were homefield setbacks to the nationally-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State Buckeyes.
Michigan State and Penn State fought to a scoreless draw in the first quarter. The Nittany Lions finally got on the board first in the second stanza when Clark hit Andrew Quarless with a 29-yard touchdown pass with 2:10 remaining in the first half for a 7-0 Penn State lead.
MSU charged right back downfield, going 87 yards in only 1:25, and Kirk Cousins drilled an 11-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Gantt at the 45-second juncture to deadlock the score at 7-all at intermission and preparing the way for the third-quarter onslaught.
Penn State came right out and scored at 13:53 of the third period on a 14-yard aerial from Clark to Quarless to go up 14-7. The Nittany Lions then took control at 21-7 on a 30-yard pass from Clark to Joe Suhey with 6:19 left in the third quarter, 28-7 on a 32-yard Clark toss to Graham Zug with 5:22 remaining in the frame and 35-7 on a 27-yard completion from Clark to Zug with just 15 seconds to go in No. 3.
Penn State tacked on a fourth-period touchdown to take command 42-7 before Michigan State retaliated on a 71-yard scoring bomb from Keith Nichol to Keshawn Martin with 1:44 to play to set the final margin.
The Spartans of Coach Mark Dantonio wrapped up their Big Ten season with a 4-4 league record while Penn State concluded a 6-2 conference campaign. Michigan State must now sit back and see if it receives an invitation to a postseason bowl berth.
