Penn State roughing the passer penalty sets up winning field goal for MSU

Michigan State knocked off Penn State 27-24 on Saturday, and a roughing passer penalty helped them get it done.

Penn State’s Marcus Allen was called for roughing the passer on a 3rd-and-4 play from the Nittany Lions 37 with under a minute to go.

Here's the roughing the passer penalty on Penn State's Marcus Allen pic.twitter.com/navEmNEn0g

— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) November 4, 2017

Instead of Michigan State being in a 4th-and-4 situation from the 37 with under a minute left, that gave the Spartans 15 yards and a first down. That put them at the 22, giving them a 39-yard field goal attempt instead of a 54-yarder.

Michigan State obviously could have gone for it on 4th-and-4, and maybe they would have converted, but the penalty by Allen certainly brought MSU a lot closer to a field goal than had there not been a penalty.

After the penalty, the Spartans ran two rushing plays and Matt Coghlin kicked a 34-yarder to win it.