Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/420483
FINISHING KICK Sam Ficken scores big in his final season with the Nittany Lions t's been a season of upheaval at Penn State. Winning streaks have turned abruptly to losing streaks. Vic- tories (on the field and off) have raised hopes, while losses have dashed them. There's been fourth- quarter drama, overtime drama, sideline drama, boardroom drama, even pregame-handshake drama. And in the midst of it all, there's been one constant: Sam Ficken. Through the first 10 games of Penn State's season, Ficken was one of the nation's most reliable place-kickers. He made 22 of 26 field goal attempts in those games, and the four misses were at least partially due to problems on the line that resulted in blocks. Playing for a team with severe red-zone issues, he has been called upon re- peatedly to salvage fizzled-out drives – to the point where he was tied for first in the Football Bowl Subdivision in field goals made per game (2.2) as of mid-November and was seventh in the Big Ten in scoring with 87 points. Unfazed by pressure situations – he made the winning kick against UCF and the tying kick against Ohio State – he has supplied 41 percent of Penn State's points this season. Ficken's performance has been good enough to make him one of 20 Lou Groza Award semi8nalists. The award, whose 8nalists were set to be announced Nov. 24, goes to the nation's top kicker. But why stop there? "Right now, Ficken can run for mayor of State College," said coach James Franklin, who has been gushing about the gangly kicker since the spring. "Everybody loves him. He's an awesome kid, he's the whole package. "But there was a time a few years ago when people weren't really feeling that way." That time was in the immediate a9ermath of a one-point loss to Virginia in September 2012, a game in which the then-sophomore missed I