EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Somebody definitely left the trickery page of the playbook open.

On three occasions in the first half, Anthony Morelli played wideout and Daryll Clark took snaps at quarterback.

Kevin Kelly scored on a fake field goal on fourth-and-goal in the second quarter. And before that, Derrick Williams nearly threw a touchdown pass out of the backfield to Deon Butler.

Penn State certainly made up for lost time by running enough unusual-looking plays to make fans wonder if the normally conservative Joe Paterno was actually coaching Saturday.

"[The playbook] was pretty open," Williams said. "They were just trying to use everything that they could today."

The Morelli-Clark combination had not been used in practice until last week, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said. The idea was to use Clark as a runner to lessen the load on Rodney Kinlaw, who ran 28 times as Evan Royster re-injured his sprained right ankle suffered against Temple.

But two of the three times Clark lined up in the shotgun, he didn't run. He handed off to Williams in the backfield and attempted a swing pass to Williams on his first two plays. The third try, a designed run, was met immediately by multiple Michigan State defenders and netted a loss of two. On all of these plays, Morelli lined up as wideout, serving as a decoy of sorts.

"We wanted to get him in the game," Jay Paterno said of Clark. "Get him some experience."

While Clark's presence represented a new wrinkle, the fake field goal run by Kelly and Williams' pass to Butler were practiced for weeks. The creative calls just finally made their way off the pages of the playbook and onto the field for the first time in the final game of the regular season.

Williams' second quarter attempt to Butler in the end zone almost connected, but the pass was off-target and Butler couldn't completely adjust.

"He just missed him," Jay Paterno said. "Joe told him all week, if you throw it, you better hit him. We had a shot at it."

Kelly's run, which gave Penn State the 24-7 lead that would eventually dissipate in the second half, had originally been called several times this season only to be scrapped in favor of three points after more thinking by the coaching staff. This time, Kelly received a direct snap from Patrick Weber and ran left 5 yards to score. Holder Jeremy Boone faked as if he were receiving the ball and sprinted right.

"Coach [Paterno] came up to me right before and said to be ready in case we call a fake," Kelly said. "Then we got the chance and the guys executed it perfectly."

The quantity of trick plays was surprising, considering their infrequency throughout the season which begs the question: Why now?

"Not sure at all," Williams said. "I just try to play."

Day to remember

Offense:
Rodney Kinlaw, RB. Kinlaw served as the primary back again when Royster went down with injury. He had 125 yards, two touchdowns and averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

Defense:
No one. Dan Connor summed up the second half collapse in three words: "They crushed us."

Day to forget

Offense:
Anthony Morelli, QB. The four incomplete passes at the Spartans 24-yard line are what will be remembered.

Defense:
Whoever was around Michigan State wideout Devin Thomas. New starting cornerback A.J. Wallace took a stiff-arm to the face on Thomas' first score. Justin King and the safeties had a tough time with him, too. Thomas finished with 139 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the latest receiver to torch the Lions secondary.

Did you notice?

Before each third down Penn State faced, the crowd chanted "Ahoo, Ahoo, Ahoo!" referencing the movie, 300. ... Why late afternoon/early evening games at Spartan Stadium always look relatively dark on television? Only four large portable lights illuminate the stadium when the sun sets. ... King suffered an apparent left leg injury. He sat on the bench during the final minutes and stretched the leg with a large rubber band that extended from the bottom of his foot to his hand.

Quotables

Michigan State middle linebacker Kaleb Thornhill, who had a team-high nine tackles, on the Spartans come-from-behind victory:

"It's better than blowing them out, to win like this, in dramatic fashion."

Kinlaw, after the game, on the hit during the Lions' second to last offensive possession that forced reserve running back Brent Carter into action:

"I just blacked out a little. I'm fine, though."

Extra point

There was second guessing from players about play selection, including the decision the throw four times in a row at the Spartan 24.

"We got away from the run the whole second half. There's times in the first half when we were just running the ball, running the ball, running the ball and then we scored," center A.Q. Shipley said. "The whole game we were able to displace all the guys inside.... Yeah, we would have liked to run the ball but we got to do what the coaches call."

"We were starting to run out of time, is what we were afraid of," Jay Paterno said. "We were going to try to make something happen. Maybe we could have run it."

There was 1:50 left and Penn State had two timeouts when Morelli threw the first of the four incomplete passes.

Extra, extra point

Penn State's bowl destination is in control of the various selection committees of the Big Ten affiliated postseason games.

Ohio State won the Big Ten and will play in the BCS. Illinois, if it doesn't make the BCS as an at-large team, will likely head to the Capital One Bowl. That leaves Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State to be divvied up among the Outback, Alamo and Champs Sports bowls.

Bowl placement isn't strictly decided on place of finish in the conference, but more so the preference of particular bowls. The Capital One has the first selection of the Big Ten's non-BCS bowl-eligible teams, then Outback, and on down the line. How attractive Michigan is to the Outback and Alamo will have an impact on where Penn State goes.