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Welcome back from the weekend, Spartan fans.
We are now 30-something days away from kickoff, and really, that can’t be any more thrilling.
To keep the excitement of football season going, we’ll look back at one of MSU’s most exhilarating wins in Mark Dantonio’s tenure.
If you missed wins No. 100-20, we’ve got it all right here.
Win No. 19
Nov. 4, 2017: No. 24 MSU 27, No. 7 Penn State 24
Daylight. Stadium lights. Rain. Hail. A delay. A buzzer-beater.
This game had it all.
This game is probably still fresh in your mind but, screw it, we are going to relive it anyway!
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How They Won
Over the span of the 75 hours it took to play the game, the Spartans used a quality air raid and timely defense to wash away Penn State.
There’s a lot that happened this game, including 400 passing yards from Brian Lewerke, 181 receiving yards on 12 catches by Felton Davis and three interceptions between David Dowell and Joe Bachie.
Rather than going blow-by-blow of every highlight of the game — which would take longer than the actual game itself — here are the official, very scientific top five plays (in chronological order) of that game.
5. Lewerke-to-Davis for a highlight reel 33 yard touchdown, tying the game up at 14-14 in the first half. (1:32)
4. Lewerke-to-Davis for 36 yards on 3rd-and-18 to extend a drive that ended with a LJ Scott touchdown to make it 21-14 in the third quarter.
3. David Dowell’s interception in the fourth quarter to kill a Penn State drive with the game tied at 24-24.
2. The stop on 4th-and-3 with 4:05 remaining in the game, giving MSU the ball for the final drive of the evening.
- McMUFFIN!!!
What This Win Meant
MSU already nabbed one top ten win on the year, doing the usual win at Ann Arbor four weeks prior.
Every once in a while a decent team gets a top ten win. What makes a team flat-out great? Getting two top ten wins in the same season.
Coming off the 2016 season, snagging this win was another “yeah, we’re back” moment in the 2017 season.
This win was also a clutch rebound from the week before when the Spartans fell to Northwestern. For a young team to bounce back from a tough game and beat a top ten team for the second time of the season? That’s priceless.