Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1495456
A P R I L 2 0 2 3 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 5th JAMES FRANKLIN'S spot in the list of college football's top 25 coaches that Bruce Feldman compiled for The Athletic in March. Franklin appeared in between two of his Big Ten East Division counterparts, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh at No. 4 and Ohio State's Ryan Day at No. 6. Feldman, who had Alabama's Nick Saban listed first, acknowledged that he got "more pushback on Franklin than any coach in these rankings." He justified the pick by noting that Penn State's coach has had four top-10 finishes in the past seven seasons and also that he went 24-15 at Vanderbilt, a school that had compiled losing records in 27 of the 28 seasons be- fore his arrival and has not had a winning season since he left. Franklin has "proven to be one of the country's top recruiters and program builders," Feldman wrote. 6 Penn State wrestlers reached the finals of the Big Ten Tournament, tying a school record set in 2019. Super senior Roman Bravo-Young (133 pounds), freshman Levi Haines (157), junior Carter Starocci (174), senior Aaron Brooks (184), senior Max Dean (197) and junior Greg Kerkvliet (heavyweight) all com- peted for league titles March 5 at Michigan's Crisler Center. Bravo- Young, Haines, Starocci and Brooks were victorious, help- ing lift PSU past Iowa for the team title. 7 Big Ten Coach of the Year awards won by Char Morett-Curtiss, who stepped down in February as Penn State's field hockey coach. She had spent 36 years leading the Nittany Lion program, in- cluding 31 seasons in the Big Ten. 12 Number of 20-win seasons in the 127-year history of the Penn State men's basketball program. The first of those seasons was 1951-52, when coach Elmer Gross led the Nittany Lions to a 20-6 finish and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16. Since the start of the Big Ten era in 1992-93, Penn State has won 20 or more games seven times, including this year's 23-14 show- ing in its second season under coach Mi- cah Shrewsberry. 25 Consecutive wins by Hawai'i before the Penn State men's vol- leyball team handed the No. 1-ranked Rainbow Warriors a 3-1 defeat March 11 at the Outrigger Invi- tational tourna- ment in Hono- lulu. Hawai'i, the two-time defending national cham- pion, hadn't lost a match in nearly a year and hadn't lost on its home court since falling to UC San Diego in April 2021, compiling a streak of 29 consecutive victories at SimpliFi Arena. But super senior op- posite hitter Cal Fisher put together his first double-double of the season, total- ing 12 kills and 10 digs to help Penn State rebound from a 25-21 loss in the first set. The Nittany Lions won the next three sets, 25-23, 25-21 and 25-23, securing their first victory over a No. 1-ranked op- ponent since defeating Ohio State 3-2 in March 2017. 109 minutes, 37 seconds Length of Penn State's game against Quinnipiac in the first round of the NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tourna- ment on March 9 in Columbus, Ohio. The three-overtime game was the sec- ond-longest in tournament history and the third-longest collegiate women's ice hockey game ever played. Junior goalie Josie Bothun totaled a career-high 55 saves for Penn State, which was making the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance, but it wasn't enough to stave off a 3-2 loss to the Bobcats. 197.025 The Nittany Lion women's gymnastics team's score in its final dual meet of the regular season. Penn State lost at Au- burn on March 10, but the score was the team's best since March 2016 and was sixth-best in program history. 36.6 million Total TV viewer- ship for the Penn State football team during the 2022 regular season. The Nittany Lions ranked seventh na- tionally in viewership numbers that "The Big House Podcast" crunched. The runaway leaders of the podcast's list were PSU's Big Ten East Division rivals Ohio State (70.3 million) and Michigan (70.1 mil- lion). Also ahead of the Nittany Lions were Alabama (62.2 million), Georgia (58.3 million), LSU (50.4 million) and Notre Dame (39.8 million). PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE