ATLANTA — The two biggest stars for Michigan State football and Pitt sat out the Peach Bowl. And the absence of Kenneth Walker III for the Spartans and Kenny Pickett for the Panthers made big differences for their teams.
So Mel Tucker and MSU relied on a trusty, long-time connection to pull off one final fourth-quarter comeback to finish off a stunning and surprising season.
Payton Thorne connected with Jayden Reed for a 22-yard touchdown pass with 2:51 to play, and Thorne finished with a career-high 354 yards despite being off-target for long stretches to give the 10th-ranked Spartans a 31-21 victory over Pat Narduzzi and the 12th-ranked Panthers on Thursday night at Mercedes Benz Stadium.