EAST LANSING, Mich. — Jahan Dotson is a player whose success and subsequent reputation is borne from his attention to detail and improvement on the margins. The Penn State wide receiver showcased that on snowy Spartan Stadium on Saturday when he hauled in a pass from quarterback Sean Clifford on the right sideline, got his feet down and contorted his body to reach the ball across the goal line while falling out of bounds.
That play, Dotson said, was the result of repetition in practice during the week. The star senior knows he needs to be prepared for any situation on game days. When it arose against Michigan State, Dotson was ready.
The detail-oriented Dotson turned in one of the most prolific regular seasons for a receiver in Penn State history. But the rest of the Nittany Lions couldn’t follow in his footsteps. Penn State lost for the fifth time in seven games at Michigan State in a 30-27 defeat on Saturday.
All five defeats have been by single digits. Four were one-possession games. Penn State either led or was tied with its opponent in the second half of all five games. And when the curtain fell on a 7-5 season in East Lansing, Mich., the Nittany Lions were left to bemoan the calling card of their best player.
“It’s tough knowing that almost every loss we’ve had has come within one possession games,” Dotson said while standing on the concourse of Spartan Stadium. “It really points back to the little details. That’s where games are won and lost when they’re that close. Both teams are very good. It’s whoever capitalizes and makes sure they don’t mess up on the little details. We didn’t play a perfect game. We made some mistakes out there that we can’t make against a good team like Michigan State, so we just got to correct those things and move on.”
Read more: Jahan Dotson stands out for Penn State in the Lions’ loss to Michigan State, other players of note
Dotson caught eight passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns Saturday. He finished the regular season with 91 catches for 1,182 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Penn State’s defeat at Michigan State marked the end of a tumultuous eight-week span. On Oct. 9, the Nittany Lions led Iowa, 17-3, in the second quarter at Kinnick Stadium. Clifford took a hard hit and exited. Backup quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson couldn’t move the offense. Penn State lost, and the season was never the same.
The Nittany Lions were 5-0 and ranked No. 4 in the nation entering that game in Iowa City, Iowa. Penn State is an afterthought on the national stage now. Michigan State was the team Saturday that rebounded from two losses in three games, including a 49-point thrashing at the hands of Ohio State. Penn State couldn’t rebound, and its record reflects that.
“We definitely know we’re better than our record,” safety Ji’Ayir Brown said. “That’s no doubt about that. But we got to win these close games. We got to execute more than the other time to pull these close games out. Most likely the team that executes the most in that crunch time is the team that wins, and we haven’t been doing a great job at executing, so I can say we should have won them games, but if we didn’t execute, we shouldn’t have won them games.”
The final score in East Lansing showed a tightly contested game, but the box score showcased the areas on the margins where Michigan State took advantage of Penn State. The Spartans were 9 of 18 on third down and 3 of 4 on fourth down. They scored four touchdowns and added a field goal in five red zone trips against the nation’s No. 3 red zone defense. Michigan State turned Penn State over twice on fumbles in the fourth quarter when the game was still in doubt.
The Nittany Lions were 5 of 13 on third down. Coach James Franklin punted twice on fourth-and-1 near midfield in the first 16 minutes of the game, and issues in short-yardage situations persisted. Kicker/punter Jordan Stout missed a 27-yard field goal and an extra point. That’s four points in what was ultimately a three-point game.
“The biggest one is just turnovers,” Dotson said. “You can’t turn the ball over, especially against a good team like Michigan State. They’re going to capitalize whenever you give them more opportunities than we were supposed to. We preach it every week, securing the ball. It hurts you, giving the other team opportunities. We just got to take care of the football.”
Penn State will rue every defeat from its 2021 season. The Nittany Lions led Michigan in the fourth quarter. They had a two-score lead at Iowa. Cornerback Daequan Hardy’s pick-six to give Penn State a 17-14 lead in the third quarter against Michigan State seemed like a pivot point.
But the Nittany Lions couldn’t hang onto the ball. They couldn’t convert on third down. The Spartans moved the ball with relative ease against a typically stingy defense. And everything built up, like the snow on the grass at Spartan Stadium.
Penn State’s margin for error for the entire season, from the season opener at Wisconsin through Saturday at Michigan State with everything in between, was slim. The Nittany Lions couldn’t afford to make many, if any, mistakes. And in the end, the little things spelled defeat.
“It’s pretty difficult,” Hardy said. “You try to go out there, give your all, get a win, but you know, sometimes things don’t go the way as planned. We got another opportunity in the bowl game to come out 1-0.
“I believe we’re a better team. We just make too many mistakes in critical times in games, and we got to clean that up.”
Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Penn State coverage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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Penn State again makes ‘too many mistakes in critical times’ in defeat at Michigan State - pennlive.com
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