Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531683
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 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 No. 1 Saquon Barkley's spot in ESPN's ranking of the top 10 highlight plays of 2024. With his Philadelphia Eagles facing Jacksonville in Week 9 of the NFL season, Barkley made an astonishing backward leap on a swing pass in the second quarter. The former Nittany Lion running back had spun away from Jacksonville's Tyson Campbell and still had his back to the defense while a sec- ond Jaguars defender, cornerback Jarrian Jones, closed in. Seeing Jones approach out of the corner of his eye, Barkley hurdled him and lunged forward for another 5 yards. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni called it "the best play I've ever seen." 5th Penn State's ranking in the final Associated Press college football Top 25 poll. The Nittany Lions were one of three Big Ten teams in the top five, with Ohio State at No. 1 and Oregon at No. 3. It was the Lions' highest finish in the AP poll since placing third in 2005. 9 Number of NFL players who have surpassed 2,000 rushing yards in a single season. Barkley joined that pantheon when he rushed for 167 yards against Dallas on Dec. 29, bringing his season total to 2,005 yards. The star running back finished 100 yards short of Eric Dickerson's league record. Barkley might well have broken the mark had he played in Philly's regular-season finale against the New York Giants, but he was held out to rest up for the playoffs. Here's a look at the NFL players who have topped 2,000 yards in a single season: Avg./ Avg./ Rk. Player (team) Yr. Games Att. Yds. Att. Game TD 1. Eric Dickerson (L.A. Rams) 1984 16 379 2,105 5.6 131.6 14 2. Adrian Peterson (Minnesota) 2012 16 348 2,097 6.0 131.1 12 3. Jamal Lewis (Baltimore) 2003 16 387 2,066 5.3 129.1 14 4. Barry Sanders (Detroit) 1997 16 335 2,053 6.1 128.3 11 5. Derrick Henry (Tennessee) 2020 16 378 2,027 5.4 126.7 17 6. Terrell Davis (Denver) 1998 16 392 2,008 5.1 125.5 21 7. Chris Johnson (Tennessee) 2009 16 358 2,006 5.6 125.4 14 8. Saquon Barkley (Philadelphia) 2024 16 345 2,005 5.8 125.3 13 9. O.J. Simpson (Buffalo) 1973 14 332 2,003 6.0 143.1 12 11 Appearances in the NCAA Tournament championship match by the Penn State women's volleyball team. The Nittany Lions lost the first three of those matches but have since won eight in a row, including this year's clash with Louisville, a 3-1 victory on Dec. 22 that delivered the pro- gram its first national championship since 2014. 13 Wins by the Penn State football team during the 2024 season. It's the winningest season in school history. With their 31-14 victory over Boise State in a College Foot- ball Playoff quarterfinal game Dec. 31 in Glendale, Ariz. — their eighth Fiesta Bowl victory in as many games — the Nittany Lions surpassed their previous record of 12 wins, set during the 1973, '86 and '94 seasons. 104 Catches by senior tight end TYLER WARREN this season. It was the fourth- most receptions ever by a Big Ten player, regardless of position, and the fourth-most by an FBS tight end. Warren finished the year with 1,233 receiving yards, a figure that ranks second in Penn State history behind the 1,432 yards that wide receiver Allen Robinson compiled in 12 games during the 2013 season. 6 , 8 8 3 Yards of total offense amassed by Penn State during the 2024 season. It was the most yards in program history, but that achievement comes with a caveat: The Lions also played two more games than in any previous season. On a per-game basis, PSU averaged 430.2 yards, the ninth-best figure in program history. $ 9 2 4 m i l l i o n The value of Penn State's athletics pro- gram, as determined by CNBC. The Nittany Lions came in 11th in the network's survey, which purports to determine programs' "current enterprise value" by taking into account such factors as revenue, conference affiliation, NIL support, number of alumni and more. CNBC limited its survey to FBS programs and did not in- clude the service academies. Ohio State came in first with a valuation of $1.32 billion, followed by Texas ($1.28 billion) and Texas A&M ($1.26 billion). Penn State was fourth among Big Ten schools, ranking behind Ohio State, Michigan (fourth, $1.06 billion) and Nebraska (eighth, $943 million). PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS