Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker, plus a couple of his players know they didn’t play good enough to win against Purdue.

Tucker, quarterback Payton Thorne, and safety Xavier Henderson all spoke to the media after the Spartans 40-29 loss and all said different versions of the same thing.

“You gotta own it. It’s tough. But at the same time, this is a tough game for tough people,” Tucker said.

“They beat us tonight. We’re not gonna sit here and say that we went and lost the game,” Thorne said.

They deserved to win,” Henderson said.

The Spartans got off to a bad start and although they recovered to eventually tie the game at 21, it still wasn’t enough as it was all Boilermakers from there. They outscored the Spartans 19-7 from that point and played the role of “spoiler yet again for another top 5 team.

Earlier in the season, Purdue took down then No. 2 Iowa, 24-7 in Iowa City. Its now 6-3 heading into the final 3 games of the season.