For 30 minutes, this looked like a completely different team, a new team, partly because new players were doing the damage.

The freshman running back had returned from injury, and was doing productive things. A huge freshman wide receiver made the first reception of his career, and it was a touchdown. The speedy sophomore wide receiver was adding intermediate expertise to his deep threat talent. The offensive line was providing time to throw. Above all, the freshman quarterback was quick, accurate, decisive, deadly.

And with those components functioning, play design and play calling gained a new shine. Even the Gruffy Sparty garb looked great.

It was only two quarters of football, but in this seven-game regular season, two quarters of football can be a revealing slice.

Payton Thorne seemed to be quite a revelation in the first half of Michigan State’s eventual 39-24 loss at Penn State on Saturday.

After a slow start, Thorne completed 11-of-13 passes for 202 yards by halftime. He completed 12 straight passes at one point.

It was surprising and impressive, but not shocking. He was better than I expected against Indiana, when he relieved Rocky Lombardi in a seemingly hopeless situation, and he provided a little sizzle. No points, but he did well against the best pass defense in the Big Ten.

He was better than I expected last week against Ohio State, providing another spark in another lost cause situation.

This time, he had the keys to the offense from the beginning, with a 0-0 score, and most of the week’s practice with the first team. I expected him to be pretty good. Once again, he was better than I anticipated.

It began poorly with a delay of game penalty on the first play. Then on third down, he left the pocket too early, forced a pass, threw an interception.

The speedy sophomore, Jalen Nailor, saved him by chasing down the thief and forcing a fumble.

From there, Payton Thorne wasn’t just a functional Big Ten quarterback. He was kind of fantastic.

It went away in the second half. It wasn’t due to poor play calling, conservative play calling, radical play calling. It wasn’t due to poor substitution of personnel.

He and the passing game, with decreasing help from the run game, were hurt by MSU’s defense and special teams. Rather than getting complementary football, it was a negative domino effect.

The defense gave up plays, the scoreboard changed, and MSU’s three straight three-and-out series midway through the second half tightened the collar.

Penn State’s coverages didn’t change much from the first half to the second half. The Nittany Lions played a lot of off-coverage zone on first and second down throughout the game. They didn’t crowd the box more in the second half to take away the run game.

Penn State blitzed more on third down than on other downs. Penn State played tighter, press coverage a few times in this game - but only on third down passing situations.

A big difference that Michigan State faced more of these third-down passing situations in the second half than in the first half.

As for Thorne’s shaky start, he threw an interception on third-and-11, and was sacked on a third-and-13.

Penn State coach James Franklin thought Penn State’s pass defense success in the second half was all about limiting Michigan State on first- and second down.

In the first half, Thorne completed 12 straight passes. The down and distance on those completions:

* Second-and-10.

* First-and-10.

* Second-and-5.

* Second-and-11.

* Third-and-3

* First-and-10.

* Second-and-6.

* Second-and-8.

* First-and-10.

* First-and-10.

* First-and-goal.

* First-and-10.

What’s that old saying about the entire playbook being open? On down-and-distances like those, absolutely. And the safeties and linebackers had to respect fakes to the run game on those plays as well.

We can talk about X’s and O’s and jimmies and joes, but sometimes situational down-and-distance governs the success rate of those X’s and O’s and jimmies and joes.

In the second half, as the game began to slip away - as the defense and special teams bottomed out - then Penn State safeties and linebackers didn’t have to honor the run game as much anymore. That’s the linkage that Tucker is talking about when he discusses complementary football, how one angle complements another angle.

MSU’s first drive of the second half ended when the Spartans were backed into a third-and-13. How did they get there? A batted down pass on first down. And then a counter play which had gained 8 and 6 yards in the first half was stopped for a loss of 3 because Penn State turned loose its unblocked backside defensive end more aggressively into the backfield. That’s called a halftime adjustment.

MSU’s second drive of the second half ended with a field goal. Michigan State blew a first-and-goal at the 4-yard line.

How? Shoe slippage by center Nick Samac and Heyward on first-and-goal thwarted the first play.

Shoe slippage by Samac also botched a well-designed QB sweep on second down.

Michigan State had players slipping all over the place, from the beginning of the game until the end. In the old days, when players slipped, the equipment people would get out some tools and change the length of the cleats. These days, I hear the shoes are molded and can’t be adjusted. So Michigan State slipped early, slipped in the middle, and slipped late. Penn State players didn’t seem to slip nearly as much.

The last time I saw so many Michigan State players slipping out of position was the 1996 Sun Bowl when the Spartans of Nick Saban (and with Tucker as a graduate assistant) lost 38-0 to Michigan State graduate Tyrone Willingham and Stanford.

This game never got that ugly. Although Michigan State was outscored 29-3 in the second half.

After those two slippage plays, Penn State tightened up into press man-to-man on third-and-goal at the 6-yard line. Michigan State ran double-slants, the ball was thrown high and contested. Incomplete. Field goal. Michigan State still led by 6.

Around this time, I began to wonder how Thorne would do if Penn State played tight press coverage and blitzed more often. Penn State didn’t press or blitz much. They only did it on third downs. Michigan State had a low, low success rate when they did it.

Penn State didn’t get Michigan State into many third-down passing situations in the first half.

Against Indiana, Thorne was 3-of-10 when blitzed and 7-of-10 when not blitzed.

Against Penn State, Thorne was 1-for-6 for four yards and was sacked once in the second half when the Nittany Lions brought five or more rushers. Michigan State's shaky pass protection had something to do with those problems. But so did the fact that Penn State played press coverage on two of those seven snaps, something the Nittany Lions did infrequently, but it seemed to upset Thorne's first read a couple of times.

Penn State also ran zone blitzes on three of those occasions, once out of press.

Penn State didn't change things up often, but when they did, it seemed like school was in session.

I’m not concluding that Thorne has a problem with blitzes and tight coverage. I’m suggesting that it would be good for him to see more of it. More games. More inventory. More corrections, more development. More for fans and coaches to consume and ponder a near future that may hinge on his bullish talents.

We’re seven games into the season. In some ways, it seems like the season has lasted long enough and it needs to end. In other ways, seven games is just enough time for us to see Jordon Simmons’ second wind, and Tre’von Morgan to come off the shelf in a monstrous way, with a 26-yard touchdown pass, and a 20-yarder into the cover-two hold on MSU’s final drive.