Post-Game Notes: Penn State
11/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
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• Penn State snapped Michigan State's three-game winning streak in the series with a 45-12 win at Beaver Stadium . . . it marked PSU's first win over the Spartans since 2009 and its first victory over MSU at Beaver Stadium since 2008 . . . Mark Dantonio is 4-3 against Penn State as head coach of the Spartans (2-2 at Beaver Stadium) . . . the all-time series between Michigan State and Penn State is tied at 15-15-1.
• Michael Geiger kicked four first-half field goals (28 yards, 36, 35, 33), tying his career high . . . Geiger finished the season by making nine consecutive field goals . . . he closed his senior season by connecting on 15 of his 19 field-goal attempts (.789) . . . the 15 field goals tied a single-season high for Geiger (2013) . . . he finished his career ranked among MSU's all-time leaders in extra points (first with 189), scoring (second with 357 points), field goals (fourth with 56) and field-goal percentage (fourth at .737; 56-for-76).
• Junior Damion Terry started his first career game at quarterback . . . he finished the game 7-of-12 passing for 101 yards and also had 13 yards rushing on four carries before leaving the game in the second quarter with an injury . . . the 101 yards passing and seven completions marked career highs and the 12 pass attempts tied a career best . . . Terry led the team on three of its four field-goal drives in the first half.
• LJ Scott finished just shy of 1,000 rushing yards for the season; he needed 65 yards to reach the 1,000 mark, but collected 59 yards on 16 carries to close his sophomore year with 994 yards rushing, which is still the sixth most by a Spartan sophomore in school history.
• R.J. Shelton led all players with 142 all-purpose yards in the game (74 receiving, 53 kick return, 15 rushing) . . . he also threw a 15-yard pass to Damion Terry in the first quarter . . . Shelton had five catches for 74 yards . . . he finished his senior year with single-season career highs in receptions (53), receiving yards (789), TD catches (5) and all-purpose yards (1,377).
• Josiah Price led all players in the game with six catches for 63 yards . . . he closed his senior year with single-season career highs in receptions (38) and receiving yards (387) . . . Price finished his career ranked fourth in school history with 21 TD receptions, which also ranked first among Spartan tight ends . . . he also ranks third among Spartan tight ends all-time in catches (104) and receiving yards (1,238).
• Donnie Corley wrapped up his freshman campaign with four catches for 33 yards . . . he had 33 catches for 453 yards as a true freshman, figures which ranked third and second most on the team, respectively.
• In his final collegiate game, Tyler O'Connor was 17-of-33 passing for 118 yards . . . he finished the season as the team leader in passing yards (1,970), passing touchdowns (16), completions (154) and pass attempts (262).
• For the fourth time this season, Montae Nicholson led the team in tackles (8) . . . Nicholson finished his junior season with a career-high 86 tackles and now has 200 for his career.
• Junior linebacker Chris Frey finished the season with a team-best 96 tackles, which also represent a career high . . . Frey was the only Spartan to start every game this season on defense . . . he finished with six stops against Penn State, including a 2-yard tackle for loss.
• Riley Bullough shared the team lead with eight stops and finished his career with 214 career tackles . . . although he only played in nine games, Bullough still finished third on the team with 76 tackles and ranked second on the team with 6.5 tackles for loss.
• Although Michigan State outrushed Penn State (109-77) and had more first downs (26-18), the Nittany Lions passed for 386 yards, the most by a Spartan opponent this season . . . PSU finished with 463 yards of total offense, the second-most allowed by MSU in 2016 (490 vs. Northwestern).
• The Spartans held the Big Ten's leading rusher, Saquon Barkley, to a season-low 14 yards on 12 carries.
• With two more new starting lineup combinations on offense and defense Saturday, the Spartans finished the season with a different starting lineup in every game on both offense and defense.
• The 2016 Senior Class finished with a 39-14 (.736) record from 2013-16 . . . the 39 wins were the fourth most by a senior class in Michigan State history.
