Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1439730
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 2. Penn State's First Score Against Auburn Clifford and Dotson were both at their very best on this play, which got Penn State's offense rolling in Week 3 against the Tigers. Dropping back, Clifford looked like he was going to throw to his left to junior running back Noah Cain coming out of the backfield. But then he stepped up in the pocket, scooted to his right and no- ticed Dotson in the back of the end zone. His pass looked like an overthrow, but Dotson pulled it in and managed to keep both feet in bounds for a touchdown to give PSU a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter. 3. Dotson's Go-Ahead Catch At Maryland Let's make it a Dotson trifecta. The Nittany Lions were tied with Maryland early in the fourth quarter and were in a bad spot offensively, facing second- and-17 deep in their own territory. But Clifford found Dotson over the middle, and he raced 86 yards for a score that put the Lions ahead for good. TOP THREE DEFENSIVE PLAYS OF THE YEAR 1. Jaquan Brisker's Interception At Wisconsin Brisker thought he knew what was coming on fourth-and-goal at the Penn State 8-yard line late in the fourth quar- ter of the Lions' season opener. He ex- pected Badgers quarterback Graham Mertz to look for tight end Jake Ferguson over the middle. Brisker was right. He stepped in front of Ferguson and headed 41 yards in the opposite direction, preserving a six- point Nittany Lion lead with just over two minutes to play. 2. The Fourth-And-Goal Stop Against Auburn The Tigers had reached Penn State's 2-yard line with just over three minutes to play and the Lions leading by eight. On fourth down, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix floated a pass to the right side of the end zone, where receiver Kobe Hudson was hoping to settle in un- derneath it. But Hudson fell over as he battled Brisker, and the pass sailed out of bounds. A lot of nervous Penn State fans were no doubt scanning the field for any flash of yellow, but the ball was well over- thrown, and the officials kept the flags in their pockets. Penn State held on for a 28-20 victory. 3. Ji'Ayir Brown's Pick-Six At Maryland The Nittany Lions were leading 24-14 in the fourth quarter, but Maryland was driving and had reached the PSU 13-yard line with 2 minutes, 54 seconds to play. Then Brown, a senior safety who had already intercepted three passes to that point in the season, stepped in front of Taulia Tagovailoa's pass intended for Darryl Jones and raced 87 yards to the opposite end zone, putting the game away for Penn State. THE TAKEAWAY Penn State fell far short of its goals this year, dropping out of realistic con- tention for the Big Ten title in Week 7 with a 20-18 loss to Illinois that is sure to go down in infamy among PSU fans. The team that did win the conference title was another traditional power that had fallen on hard times during the COVID-wracked 2020 season and was looking to rebound. Hats off to Michi- gan, which did exactly what Penn State had been hoping to do in 2021. If the Wolverines' success this year showed anything, it's that when you have a great offensive line, all things are possible. The Nittany Lions did not have a great offensive line, and they spent the entire season trying to find work- arounds that would allow them to move the ball consistently without the aid of a conventional running game. That didn't go so well. Saddled with a ground attack that generated just 106.4 yards per game to rank 13th in the Big Ten and 118th in the FBS, the Lions fin- ished seventh in the league in both scor- ing offense (26.3 points per game) and total offense (380.8 yards a contest). One of the more disappointing as- pects of Penn State's season is that while the running game struggled, most of the other pieces of a championship-con- tending team appeared to be in place. The Nittany Lions fielded the Big Ten's fourth-ranked passing offense at 274.4 yards per game, and they were rock solid on the other side of the ball, finishing third in the conference in scoring defense (16.8 points per game) and sixth in total defense (344.0 yards per outing). Those strengths kept PSU competi- tive in every game. The Nittany Li- ons' five regular-season losses were by a combined total of 21 points, and the only game they lost by more than a touchdown was at Ohio State, a contest in which the Buckeyes got a defensive touchdown on a scoop-and-score by lineman Jerron Cage. The Lions' inability to run the ball — they didn't have a single 100-yard rushing performance by a ball carrier all season — was an impediment they weren't entirely able to overcome. "We have to be more physical in the running game," Franklin lamented late in the year. "There's nobody who works harder at it than Coach [Phil] Trautwein — all off-season, all in-season, and the players as well. "I think at times we've done some pretty good things against some of the better defenses in college football, but we've got to be better." ■ Senior safety Jaquan Brisker ranked fourth on the Nittany Lions with 64 tackles, including six tackles for loss and a pair of interceptions. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL