The Letter You Could Tell from the Very Beginning That This Game Was Going Follow Us on to Go Down to the Wire
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VOLUME 76 ISSUE 11 Penn State vs. Nebraska November 25, 2013 The Letter You could tell from the very beginning that this game was going Follow us on to go down to the wire. Twitter and Check out the It was a defensive struggle from new Football the start, with the two teams Letter Blog converting only five of 31 third downs and punting 19 times. Trying to catch a rock-hard football with PSU 6 0 7 7 0 -20 cold hands in sub-freezing weather, Neb. 0 7 10 3 3 -23 receivers dropped several passes and runners coughed up the ball seven times. CONTENTS The lead changed hands five times, and there were three turnovers, The Letter including two fumbles near the goal line, a blocked punt, a missed field Notes from the C uff goal and a mixed extra point. But both teams left it all on the field till the O ther Sports final whistle. N ews of N ote Ultimately, the game wound up as the third overtime contest in Penn Game Photos State’s four home dates against Big Ten teams this fall. And for the first Statistics time in the Nittany Lions’ last six overtime games, they lost. Senior Day for 17 players making PAST ISSUES their last appearance in Beaver Stadium was spoiled by the View past issues Nebraska Cornhuskers, who walked away with a 23–20 win in the first overtime. With one game remaining for each Big Ten team, Nebraska moved up into second place behind Michigan State in the Legends Division with a 5–2 conference slate and an overall record of 8–3. Penn State stayed in third place in the Leaders Division with a 3–4 conference mark and an overall slate of 6–5. Michigan State, undefeated in seven conference contests, wrapped up the Legends title regardless of the outcome of their final game with FAN ZONE Minnesota in Spartan Stadium Saturday. Football Schedule Ohio State, also unbeaten in seven Big Ten games this fall, secured the Team Roster Leaders crown regardless of what happens on its trip to the Big House in GoPSUSports.com Radio/TV Listings Ann Arbor Saturday. Big Ten Football TV The Buckeyes (11–0) and the Spartans (10–1) will square off in the Big Sc hedule Ten championship game in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium at 8 p.m. Dec. 7 Big Ten Standings in a game televised by FOX. Big Ten Schedule and Res ults Howling northwest winds brought snow squalls swirling through Beaver Penn Staters in the Stadium before the opening kickoff and during halftime Saturday to add to P ros the misery of 98,517 braving the elements to pay tribute to State’s 2013 seniors. During the week, Coach Bill O’Brien had lauded them for their loyalty, leadership, character and commitment to Penn State. Also recognized were the seniors among the Blue Band, the grand national champion majorettes, back-to-back national champion Lionettes Dance Team, Blue Band silks, cheerleaders and six-time world champion Feature Twirler Matt Freeman. The two teams on the field were about as closely matched in their performance as they could be, with Penn State holding a two-yard edge in rushing, a 25-yard margin in passing, a 1:28 advantage in time of possession, and a 2–1 margin in quarterback sacks. But Nebraska posted a three-point edge where it mattered most—on the scoreboard. And then there were those game-altering plays. Like Ameer Abdullah’s fumble into the end zone that killed a Nebraska scoring drive in the second quarter, when Jesse Della Valle recovered it in the end zone for a touchback. (Remember Matt Lehman’s similar misadventure in Lincoln last year?) And the sack, strip and fumble recovery by Lion defensive end C.J. Olaniyan at the NE-8 to set up a Penn State touchdown on a seven- yard run by quarterback Christian Hackenberg early in the third quarter. And the 99-yard touchdown return of the ensuing kickoff by Nebraska’s Kenny Bell 15 seconds later. And Ciante Evans’ interception of Hackenberg to set up Pat Smith’s 39- yard field goal for the Huskers late in the third. And another drive-killing fumble knocked loose by State’s freshman linebacker Brandon Bell, when he smeared Cornhusker quarterback Ron Kellogg III at the PS-1 late in the fourth quarter to force the visitors to settle for a game-tying field goal rather than a game-winning touchdown. But Penn State’s string of five consecutive overtime victories was broken when Sam Ficken’s 37-yard field goal attempt sailed just outside the right upright and Pat Smith’s 42-yarder four plays later split the uprights. Nebraska thus became the only team to ruin two of Penn State’s Senior Days in the 24 years since the Lions joined the Big Ten. One could argue that there are any number of ways the outcome might have changed in Penn State’s favor. If Sam Ficken’s extra-point try after State’s first touchdown on a two- yard pass from Hackenberg to tight end Adam Breneman had not clanged off the right upright to end his string of 69 consecutive PATs since the Navy game last year, the Huskers would most likely have gone for the touchdown on 4th-and-1 late in the fourth and either won or lost the game in regulation time. If State’s defense had not allowed the Huskers’ third-string QB Ron Kellogg III to complete his first four passes for 71 yards to power a seven-play, 91-yard touchdown march for a 7–6 halftime lead, the Lions could have won. If Kenny Bell had not been able to hurdle over the attempted tackle by Ficken on his 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter, again victory could have gone to the Lions. If Hackenberg would not have thrown the interception that set up the Cornhuskers’ drive to a 39-yard Smith field goal late in the third quarter, the visitors would not have had their three-point margin of victory. On the other hand, if Malcolm Willis had not knocked the ball loose from Abdullah on the PS-1 with Della Valle recovering in the end zone in the second quarter, Nebraska would have most likely had a 14–6 halftime lead and maintained their margin to the end. Or if Kellogg had not surrendered the ball to Olaniyan on the NE-8, Penn State would not have had an easy touchdown to regain the lead after halftime. Or if Husker safety Corey Cooper had tackled Jesse James at the NE-20 instead of failing on his attempt to simply push him out-of-bounds, the Lion tight end would not have tiptoed his way down the sideline to a 46- yard touchdown, and the Nebraska win might have been sealed then. Or if a Husker had not been called for an unnecessary block several yards behind the runner on Abdullah’s apparent 62-yard touchdown dash in the fourth frame, the resulting score could have the ensured the visitors’ victory at that point. Or if Kellogg had not fumbled the ball, when Brandon Bell blasted him at the PS-1 with only 4:29 left in the game, the visitors would likely have finished their 12-play, 73-yard drive with a winning touchdown. But that’s the way it is in any contest where one of the teams has not displayed a clear superiority. And that’s why the game is played. Penn State’s junior power back Zach Zwinak was the game’s leading rusher with 35 carries for 149 yards, even though his longest gain was only 11 yards. The Lion defense would have been the first all year to hold Ameer Abdullah to less than 100 yards rushing, if he had not broken loose on that 50-yard run near the end of the game. The Big Ten’s leading rusher wound up with 147 yards on 25 carries. As usual, the conference’s leading pass catcher, Allen Robinson, led all receivers with eight grabs for 106 yards to post his seventh 100-yard receiving game this fall and break Bobby Engram’s Penn State record of six. He also surpassed Engram’s career receptions total of 167 by two and stands just 10 behind Deon Butler’s Nittany Lion record of 179. Middle linebacker Glenn Carson had a game-high 10 tackles to give him 256 for his career and tie Trey Bauer (1984–87). Malcolm Willis and Mike Hull had nine tackles. That tied a career-high for Willis, who also forced the first fumble of his career. For Hull it marked the sixth time in seven Big Ten games he has had at least nine stops. Freshman linebacker Brandon Bell made a career-high six tackles in addition to his forced fumble. Olaniyan got a sack for a 16-yard loss, posted the third forced fumble of his career and got his first career recovery. Adrian Amos got a six-yard quarterback sack. But kickoff return coverage has been Penn State’s Achilles Heel, as this was the second week in a row that an opponent returned a kickoff for a touchdown. And Purdue almost had a second one last week, before Ficken made a touchdown-saving tackle. Coach Bill O’Brien lamented the kickoff return after the game, but said, “The kids are trying hard though. They are good kids and working hard … We will continue to work hard on special teams this coming week.” O’Brien was disappointed his team could not win for the seniors in their last home game, but said, “I think both sides played with great effort; that is never the problem at Penn State.