Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542734
W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M By The Numbers PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS 5 Hat tricks by the Penn State men's ice hockey team this season fol- lowing a three-goal scoring barrage by junior forward Matt DiMarsico in a 4-1 victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 16 at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions' five hat tricks through 21 games are the most in any season in program history. DiMarsico's hat trick was the 20th in PSU history. One-quarter of the hat tricks the Lions have posted since their first varsity season in 2012-13 have come during the current campaign. 1 8 t h Olaivavega Ioane's spot in Mel Kiper Jr.'s Big Board rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft. In the list, updated Jan. 14, the longtime ESPN draft analyst had Penn State's 6-foot-4, 336-pound All- America guard ranked among the top- 20 prospects available in the upcoming draft and first among interior linemen. "Ioane drives defensive tackles off the ball and sustains his blocks well," Kiper noted. "He can get to the second level and torque defenders out of the way. And he's incredibly agile at left guard for his size. Ioane has 32 career starts and has given up only two sacks over that time — both in 2023." Other Penn State players in Kiper's positional rankings included quarter- back Drew Allar (fourth), running backs Kaytron Allen (fourth) and Nicholas Singleton (sixth), defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton (fifth) and safety Zakee Wheatley (seventh). 2 6 Career victories as a starting quarterback by redshirt senior Rocco Becht, who in January opted to join coach Matt Campbell at Penn State. Becht has the most wins of any returning FBS quarterback heading into the 2026 season. 3 4 All-time bowl victories by Penn State following its 22-10 win over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl in De- cember. The Nittany Lions improved their bowl/College Football Playoff record to 34-21-2. Their win total ranks fourth among FBS teams, with only Alabama (46), Georgia (38) and USC (36) having more. 73 Yards gained by senior re- ceiver TREBOR PEÑA on a catch-and-run touch- down in the Pinstripe Bowl. It was the longest of Peña's 158 career receptions, surpassing a 62-yard gain (also against Clemson) when he was playing for Syracuse in 2021. The Pinstripe Bowl reception was also the second-longest touchdown com- pletion in Penn State bowl history. The only postseason scoring pass to cover more ground was an 88-yarder from Sean Clifford to KeAndre Lambert- Smith in the 2023 Rose Bowl. 7 7 Consecutive dual meet victo- ries by the Penn State wres- tling team following a 42-0 shutout of Stanford at the Journeyman Duals on Dec. 20 in Nashville. The Lions' streak, which began with a 40-3 win at Maryland on Feb. 2, 2020, broke the previous NCAA Division I record of 76 consecutive wins set by Oklahoma State from 1937-51. On Jan. 10, Penn State eclipsed the NCAA record for all divisions with a 46-0 win over Rutgers that extended its streak to 78 dual meet victories in a row. Division II St. Cloud State had held the previous record with a 77-match win streak from 2017-22. The all-time collegiate record for most consecutive dual meet victories belongs to Grand View, an NAIA pro- gram that won 117 in a row from 2013- 22. 1 1 0 Penn State student-athletes who earned Academic All- Big Ten honors during the fall semester. The football team led the way with 43 honorees, followed by women's soccer with 17 and men's soccer with 13. Five Nittany Lion athletes posted 4.0 GPAs: football seniors Liam Clifford, Dominic DeLuca and Tyler Holzworth, women's soccer senior Amanda Poor- baugh and women's cross country grad- uate student Florence Caron. 7. 6 m i l l i o n Viewers who tuned in to ABC's Pin- stripe Bowl broadcast on Dec. 27. It was the largest TV audience in the bowl's 15-year history and the third-largest for the 33 non-CFP bowl games that aired on ESPN or ABC this year, trail- ing only Texas' romp over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl (9.1 million) and BYU's shootout with Georgia Tech in the Pop- Tarts Bowl (8.7 million). F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 6 15