Ohio State October 19, 2015

VOLUME 78 ISSUE 7 Penn State vs. Ohio State October 19, 2015

The Letter

PSU 3 0 7 0 - 10 OSU 0 21 0 17 - 38

CONTENTS

The Letter Notes from the Cuff Other Sports News of Note Game Photos Statistics

After five straight wins at home to conclude the first half of the 2015 football season, Penn State started the second half the same way it started the first—by losing to an undefeated team that is a favorite to win its conference and is currently ranked in the Top 25. PAST ISSUES On the first Saturday in September, the loss came on the road at the hands View past issues of an upstart Temple team that can now claim to be the best in Pennsylvania, as it sits atop the American Athletic Conference and in the No. 22 spot in the AP poll. FAN ZONE Two days ago, the loss was on the road at the hands of the first team ever Football Schedule to be a unanimous No. 1 in the pre-season poll and has maintained that Team Roster spot despite the slippage of a few votes through recent weeks. GoPSUSports.com Radio/TV Listings Clad in alternate uniforms of black helmets, black pants, black shoes and Big Ten Football TV black shirts with barely readable scarlet numbers, Ohio State’s defending Schedule national champions soundly defeated the Nittany Lions, 38-10, in what its Big Ten Standings marketing department dubbed “Dark Night in the ’Shoe,”—and at the same Big Ten Schedule and Results time won the prize for ugliest uniforms. Penn Staters in the Pros Penn State scored its first and only points in the first and third quarters, in For advertising info, front of the second largest crowd ever amassed in Ohio Stadium. But the contact: Angelo Scialfa Buckeyes scored many more points in the second and fourth frames to the 609-259-1910 delight of 99 percent of the 108,423 spectators. [email protected] After the first 15 minutes of play, the visiting Lions held a 3–0 margin in the score along with an 85–57 advantage in total offense that made their small band of fans in the northeast corner of the Horseshoe happy. But the only other time they had to cheer was during the first minute of the second half, when their gridiron heroes unleashed a lightning three-play, 78-yard touchdown strike. Unfortunately, it was just a momentary flash between the 21 points tallied by the Buckeyes in the second quarter and the 17 more they added to the scoreboard in the fourth. No doubt the black-camouflaged players, blending in with the Blackout declared by Ohio State fans, made it tougher for the ABC-TV viewers to discern the Buckeyes scampering up and down the field around the Nittany Lions in their hospital whites during the first night game in Ohio Stadium this year. But the thing that bothered the Lions was the speed and athleticism of Ohio State’s “skill players” protected by their massive black walls along the line of scrimmage. Coach James Franklin thought his charges were playing pretty well, when Ohio State had its traditional drop-back quarterback (Cardale Jones) running the show. The Lion defense limited him to nine pass completions in 15 attempts for 84 yards and no points, while sacking him twice for 16 yards in losses. But then Urban Meyer went to his unique revolving door system of quarterback rotation at the end of the first quarter. Meyer allowed Braxton Miller, senior quarterback-turned-receiver, to make a cameo appearance at his former position for a critical 15-yard run, right after he had caught a 17- yard pass from Jones to spawn the Bucks’ first scoring drive. Next, the revolving door let in red zone specialist J.T. Barrett to play give- and-take with tailback Ezekiel Elliott until the two of them carried the Buckeyes to the PS-5, where it was the shifty Barrett’s turn to slice and dice his way into the end zone. Coach Meyer liked the result so much that he continued to shuffle Jones, Miller and Barrett on Ohio State’s next possession, until Elliott took his turn to smash 10 yards to a second Buckeye touchdown; and the rout was on. Freshman Saquon Barkley, who was Penn State’s offensive bright light, carried his team into Buckeye territory in the middle of the second quarter. But with a fourth-and-eight at the OS-31, quarterback Christian Hackenberg was sacked; and the home team took over to mount a third touchdown drive, climaxed when Barrett took his turn to score again on a 13-yard dance to paydirt. Ohio State’s 21–3 halftime lead was cut to 21–10 by two Hackenberg passes sandwiched around Barkley’s 14-yard run in the opening minute of the second half. Hackenberg opened with a deep pass to Chris Godwin that he grabbed in a battle with a defender, then carried said defender another 15 yards on his back to extend Penn State’s longest pass play of the season to 56 yards. After Barkley’s romp, Hack fired a pass to wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton on the right sideline. Hamilton broke a tackle, while climaxing the 8-yard play with a dramatic leap that had his body flying out of bounds, while his hand deftly kept the ball inside the pylon. But that was the last hurrah for the Penn State offense. The defense allowed Ohio State to gain only 62 yards in the third quarter and held the three amigos of Barrett, Elliott and Miller at bay, until it was finally breached by a 53-yard drive that led to Jack Willoughby’s 39-yard field goal that heralded a return to control by the home team early in the final frame. Barrett and Elliott ran the read-option down the Lions’ throat, until Barrett started a rush up the middle from the PS-5 before flipping a jump shot pass to Miller standing alone in the end zone—a play that Tim Tebow made famous, when Meyer coached him at Florida a decade ago. The final points on the scoreboard came after a massive Buckeye blitz sacked Hackenberg for the fifth time to force a fumble recovered by Ohio State on the PS-22 with just five minutes left in the game. Wide receiver Jalin Marshall took a reverse 15 yards, Barrett rushed for one, then rifled a six-yard TD toss to Michael Thomas. Barkley, Penn State’s freshman phenom, gained 194 yards on 26 carries to lead all rushers for the night. But four other runners added only one net yard to the Lions’ total, because the rest were wiped out by 24 yards lost on sacks. And Barkley’s production did not match the 285 yards accumulated by the triumvirate of Elliott, Barrett and Miller, and making up 80 percent of Ohio State’s total of 315—the most allowed by Penn State this year. Godwin gained a total of 103 yards on just three catches, including a season-long 56-yarder to jump-start the Lions’ touchdown drive in the third quarter, and a 45-yarder on a slant pattern to highlight Penn State’s opening scoring drive. Franklin said Penn State’s game plan this fall must rely on a great defense and a grind it out offense buttressed by special teams to play for field position. Field position was another thing Penn State did not have Saturday, as short punts allowed Ohio State to start four drives in Penn State territory, as did the fumble recovery. By contrast, the superlative punting by the Buckeyes’ Cameron Marshall, best in the Big Ten, pinned the Lions inside their own eight yard line four times. Defensively, Penn State held the Buckeyes scoreless in the third quarter for the first time this year and scoreless in the first quarter for only the second time this season. The Lions’ 10 tackles for loss were the most surrendered by Ohio State in 2015 and cost the Bucks 33 yards. All of Penn State’s previously injured players have now returned to action, except linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL in the Temple game. After OT Andrew Nelson, linebacker Brandon Bell, and safety Marcus Allen returned last week, tailbacks Barkley and Akeel Lynch, and center Angelo Mangiro returned at Ohio State. And tight end Adam Brenneman, who had not seen action since the Wisconsin game in November 2013 because of a second ACL tear, made brief appearances in the second half. That was necessitated by the fact that senior TE Kyle Carter did not make the trip because of an injury suffered in practice this week. The 5–2 Lions will seek to get back into their winning cycle next Saturday, when they meet the Maryland Terrapins in M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL Ravens in downtown Baltimore. The game will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. and be televised on ESPN. Just as the Central Ohio chapter did in Columbus, the Baltimore Chapter will hold a lively Friday night event for Penn State fans at Power Plant Live! along the Inner Harbor, starting at 7 p.m. with cheerleaders, Nittany Lion and the entire Blue Band, whose annual road trip this year will be to Baltimore. The Alumni Association’s pre-game pep rally will be held in the Key Ballroom of the Baltimore Hilton Hotel at 401 W. Pratt St. across from Camden Yards, along the Raven’s Walk, opening at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. For the Glory,

Part of your Penn State Alumni Association's mission is to strengthen the connection of alumni to the University and to provide valued services to members. The Football Letter is just one of the many benefits of membership provided to support that mission. VOLUME 78 ISSUE 7 Penn State vs. Ohio State October 19, 2015

Notes from the Cuff Penn State is now 13–18 all-time against Ohio Follow us on State. The defending national champion Twitter and Buckeyes have the longest active winning Check out the streak in the nation (20 games) and have won new Football 27 Big Ten regular season contests in a Letter Blog row—a conference record … QB Christian Hackenberg completed seven of 13 passes for 120 yards and one PSU 3 0 7 0 - 10 touchdown—the 40th of his career, which OSU 0 21 0 17 - 38 moved him into sixth place on State’s career chart. One of his tosses was a season-long 56-yarder to WR Chris Godwin CONTENTS to launch to the Lions’ touchdown drive on the first play of the second half. Ohio State broke Godwin’s string of at least four catches in each game this The Letter season. He had three for 103 yards—an outstanding 34.3-yard average … Notes from the Cuff Other Sports Sophomore DaeSean Hamilton became the 13th Penn Stater to reach the News of Note 100-reception milestone and now has 101 for 1,119 yards … Game Photos TB Saquon Barkley recorded his third 100-yard rushing game to tie Eric Statistics McCoo for second on the all-time true freshman season list. D.J. Dozier set the school mark with five in 1983. Barkley’s 194-yard total was just one yard short of his career-high 195 yards against Rutgers. Barkley also had a 44-yard touchdown gallop in the first quarter nullified by a holding penalty that prevented State from taking a 10-point lead over the Buckeyes … DE Carl Nassib increased his nation-leading total to 11.5 QB sacks. He has PAST ISSUES at least one in all seven games this fall. His 3.5 tackles for loss against the Buckeyes raised his season total to 15.5 and was the fifth time this fall he View past issues has posted two or more TFLs … DT Anthony Zettel’s two tackles for loss give him 35 for his career to move FAN ZONE ahead of Anthony Adams, Dan Connor and Paul Posluszny into 12th place Football Schedule on State’s career chart … Team Roster DE Garrett Sickels had a career-high eight tackles, which tied Nassib and GoPSUSports.com safety Marcus Allen and was just one behind safety Jordan Lucas’ game- Radio/TV Listings high nine … Big Ten Football TV Schedule Penn State has scored first in seven straight games … Big Ten Standings The best part of the trip to Columbus was the beautiful autumn foliage Big Ten Schedule and Results along Interstates 80, 76 and 71 … Penn Staters in the Pros As always, the Ohio State marching band put on a great halftime show For advertising info, with phenomenal marching routines, including movable characters. It’s a contact: Angelo Scialfa shame television networks no longer carry college band halftime shows but 609-259-1910 choose to replace them with talking heads, repetitive scoring updates and [email protected] excessive commercials. VOLUME 78 ISSUE 7 Penn State vs. Ohio State October 19, 2015

News of Note Pep Rally, Event Details for Maryland and Northwestern Follow us on Penn State battles Maryland Oct. 24 in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium. Twitter and Note: The game will be played at an off-campus location, the home Check out the stadium of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. The same fanfare will still exist, new Football however, and details for the weekend’s festivities are available online. Click Letter Blog here for all the info on the game. Details are also available for next month’s events at Northwestern. For information on the alumni mixer and pre-game pep rally, visit the Alumni PSU 3 0 7 0 - 10 Association’s website. OSU 0 21 0 17 - 38 And for alumni, students and fans on social media, use and share #PSUpeprally for everything trending about the 2015 Penn State CONTENTS pep rallies this season. The Letter Alumni Association Honors 19 Outstanding Penn Staters Notes from the Cuff The Alumni Association will honor the 19 recipients of this year’s Alumni Other Sports Fellow Award on Oct. 21 for their outstanding professional News of Note accomplishments. For the full list of honorees and the official release, visit Game Photos our website. The Alumni Fellow Award was established in 1973 and is the Statistics highest award that the Alumni Association bestows. Follow the Alumni Association on Social Media Stay updated on Alumni Association news and events by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. Also follow The Football Letter and The Penn Stater magazine on Twitter for more information on what’s happening at Penn State. PAST ISSUES Huddle with the Faculty Alumni and friends can catch light refreshments and some food for thought View past issues at “Huddle with the Faculty,” the popular free lecture series hosted by the Penn State Alumni Association each home football Saturday at The Nittany FAN ZONE Lion Inn. Football Schedule The next two presentations in the 24th annual Huddle series are: Team Roster GoPSUSports.com Oct. 31 (Illinois): “The Five Myths of Online Radio/TV Listings Learning,” featuring Craig Weidemann, vice Big Ten Football TV president for Outreach and vice provost for Online Schedule Education Big Ten Standings U.S. News and World Report recently recognized Big Ten Schedule and Results the 15-year-old Penn State World Campus as Penn Staters in the Pros having the No. 1 online bachelor program in the

For advertising info, country. The World Campus now has more than contact: 16,000 students worldwide pursuing one of more Angelo Scialfa 609-259-1910 than 125 online degrees and certificates. While the [email protected] World Campus shares the same rigor, quality, and admission requirements as our traditional Penn State programs, there remain many questions and myths regarding the quality and future of online programs. Join us as we talk about the myths surrounding online learning, what is next, and where the college learning experiencing is heading. Nov. 21 (Michigan): “Can Modern Coral Reefs Adapt to Climate Change,” featuring Mónica Medina, associate professor of biology Coral reefs are the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. Geological structures built by living organisms over millions of years, coral reefs are the result of a symbiosis between an animal known as coral, and an alga, also known as zooxanthellae. This symbiosis is now being threatened by climate change factors like global warming and ocean acidification, as well as human activity like pollution and overfishing. Through the study of coral-algal interactions, Medina contributes to the understanding of the molecular underpinnings that maintain healthy marine symbioses. In particular, Medina has recently studied improbable reefs—those that are still thriving under increasingly unfavorable conditions—with the ultimate goal of identifying the adaptive potential of modern reefs to cope with global change. All “Huddle with the Faculty” programs start promptly at 9:00 a.m. and include free parking at the Nittany Parking Deck. Huddle with the Faculty is presented by the Penn State Alumni Association and sponsored by The Village at Penn State with support from The Nittany Lion Inn and Penn State Press. Beaver Stadium Receives New Sod For the first time in a decade, Beaver Stadium is receiving new sod. Crews began removing the old sod last week, and everything is expected to be finished before the Nittany Lions’ next home game Oct. 31 against Illinois. For information on the new sod—a Kentucky bluegrass surface—visit GoPSUsports.com. Hintz Family Alumni Center Open House Hours A reminder to all visitors that the Hintz Family Alumni Center’s open hours change during football season. On home football game days, the Alumni Center opens at 8:00 a.m., and closes one hour before kickoff. During away football weekends, the Alumni Center is open only on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. For questions, call the Alumni Association at 814- 865-6516.