EAST LANSING — Down a quarterback and four touchdowns, Michigan State football finally started moving the chains late in the first half.
Payton Thorne appeared to have enough yardage for a first down. Then Ohio State’s Baron Browning got his hand on the ball and ripped it away from the redshirt freshman quarterback.
The Buckeyes recovered.
The Spartans couldn’t.
Short-handed No. 4 OSU, missing 23 players, dominated MSU from start to finish for a 52-12 victory Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Thorne was in the game because starting quarterback Rocky Lombardi left the game with an unspecified injury in the second quarter — his head hit the ground on a sack — and did not return.