Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1486024
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M By The Numbers 1st Before this season, no team in Big Ten history had ever boasted two freshman running backs with more than 700 yards apiece. Penn State is now the first. Nicholas Singleton surpassed 700 yards in Week 10, while Kaytron Allen followed in Week 11. With sophomore Keyvone Lee injured for much of the season and junior Devyn Ford having left the team, Singleton and Allen have accounted for 305 of Penn State's 458 carries and 1,771 of its 2,185 rushing yards. The Lions head into the postseason ranked fourth in the Big Ten in rushing at 182.1 yards per game. 2 Penn State football players on Mel Kiper Jr.'s updated list of the top 25 prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft. The longtime ESPN draft guru had red- shirt junior cornerback Joey Porter Jr. 14th on his Nov. 3 list, describing him as a "lanky and physical defender who can reroute receivers with the best of them." Porter's third-year sophomore teammate Olu Fashanu also turned up on Kiper's list, checking in at No. 23. The fast-rising offensive tackle "is advanced in his technique in both the run and pass game," Kiper noted. The NFL will have to wait on Fashanu, though. He announced on Nov. 29 that he intends to return to the Nittany Lions in 2023. 3 Non-offensive touchdowns in Penn State's 55-10 victory at Rutgers on Nov. 19. The Nit- tany Lions scored on a 100-yard kickoff return by freshman Nicholas Singleton, and fumble recov- eries of 14 and 70 yards by redshirt freshman linebacker Kobe King and senior safety Ji'Ayir Brown, respectively. It was the first time since 1998 that Penn State had three non-offensive scores in a game. That year, the Lions returned two inter- ceptions for touchdowns and added a punt-return score in a 48-3 victory over Bowling Green. 9 Big Ten Tournament champion- ships by the Penn State women's soccer team after claiming this year's crown with a 3-2 victory over Michigan State on Nov. 6 in Columbus, Ohio. The Spartans had won the league's regular- season title, but two goals by redshirt senior forward Ally Schlegel lifted the sixth-seeded Nittany Lions to the title, and the automatic NCAA Tournament invitation that came with it. Penn State has now appeared in the NCAA tourney 28 consecutive years. 10 Number of Penn State varsity teams that earned a 100 percent graduation rate in the most recent NCAA survey of Division I academic perfor- mance. The survey encompassed classes that arrived between 2012 and 2015 and was based on the percentage of student- athletes who received a degree within six years. The Penn State teams with perfect graduation rates during that span were: women's fencing, field hockey, men's golf, women's golf, women's ice hockey, women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, women's tennis, men's volley- ball and wrestling. The field hockey and women's tennis teams have earned 100 percent graduation success rates all 18 years in which the survey has been con- ducted. 18 Seconds needed by the Penn State women's soccer team to score what would turn out to be the win- ning goal in a 4-0 shutout of West Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Nov. 18 at Jef- frey Field. Senior midfielder Payton Linnehan scored for the Nittany Lions in the game's first minute, with assists from senior mid- fielder Kate Wiesner and junior midfielder Natalie Wilson. The victory propelled the Lions into the Sweet 16 for the sixth consecutive year. 100 Career vic- tories by Penn State football coach JAMES FRANKLIN following the Nittany Lions' 55-10 win at Rutgers on Nov. 19. Franklin became the 28th active FBS coach with 100 wins, and he is one of only 10 active coaches with 100 wins as a Power Five coach. Heading into bowl season, Franklin is 101-51 overall and 77-36 at Penn State. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE