Blue White Illustrated

R y A N   J o N E s | B L U E W H I T E c O N T R I B U T O R The ugliest week in a difficult season for the Rutgers football program was capped by a bruising loss Saturday night in Beaver Stadium. For so many reasons, the Nittany Lions' 28-3 win meant more than just a winless Big Ten start for the Scarlet Knights. It meant a second straight failed attempt in their ongoing effort to will themselves onto equal foot- ing with their border rivals. Fittingly – and no doubt painfully for Rutgers fans – a lot of blue-and-white- clad kids from the state of New Jersey played a huge role in beating the State University of New Jersey. "We approach it the same every single week, but if you're from Jersey and you're playing Rutgers, it's going to be a little bit different for you," James Franklin ac- knowledged aBer the game. "I think our Jersey guys were a little juiced up"– and here he laughed off the two early false start penalties by senior center Angelo Mangiro of Roxbury – "but I think they played well." Mangiro is one of 18 Nittany Lions who played their high school ball in the Gar- den State, and one of many Franklin sin- gled out aBer the game. There were plenty of contributors to choose from, but given the Lions' stinginess—Penn State took a shutout into the fourth quar- ter—it makes sense to start with the guys in the heart of the defense. The play of defensive tackle Austin Johnson (Gal- loway), and linebackers Brandon Bell (Mays Landing) and Jason Cabinda (Flemington) was massive for a unit that held Rutgers to just 43 rushing yards and kept the Knights out of the end zone. "It definitely brought more to the game, just because of all the Jersey guys," said Johnson, who finished with six tack- les and a sack. "It definitely made it a lot more intense for us." And sweetened the victory? "Ooh, yeah," Johnson said. Bell, back aBer missing last week's home opener with an injury, led the line- backer corps with nine tackles. He seemed to be speaking both for his unit and for his fellow Jerseyans when he said the Lions' defensive intensity Saturday night is "just what we do. It's in our blood." Cabinda, who added six tackles, was slightly more verbose. "Obviously it makes it extra special for me and all the Jersey guys on the roster," the sophomore said. "Rutgers had something to do with all our recruitments; for them to come here, in our stadium, on our turf, and for us to be able to come out with this win was huge for us." Like all true freshman, cornerback John Reid (Mount Laurel) wasn't made available to talk postgame, but his play spoke volumes: His third-quarter inter- ception and 44-yard return negated a Rutgers drive that seemed destined to end in points, and he added a fumble re- covery in the fourth that squashed any Rutgers hopes of a late rally. The actual Jersey natives on the offen- sive side of the ball had a comparatively quiet night, but in Saquon Barkley, the Lions' showcased a burgeoning star whose success is no less painful for Rut- gers fans to accept. Barkley was a Scarlet Knight commit before Franklin and his staff flipped him; the coach wouldn't be drawn on the significance of the true freshman's 195-yard outing against the program he spurned, saying only, "I'm not sure… I know when we got here he was committed to another school." Then there's Chris Gulla, the redshirt sophomore from Toms River who wasn't even the starting punter when the season began. Franklin said Gulla's strong showings in recent practices—including Friday morning, when the coach said Gulla was out early getting in extra kicks– earned him a chance to start this week; he responded, averaging 41 yards on five kicks and, more important, pin- ning the Knights deep every time and helping keep lethal return man Janarion Grant from inflicting any damage. "I'm really proud especially of Chris Gulla, who didn't find out he was starting until Friday," Franklin said. "If you had to say who the game ball goes to, I would say it goes to Gulla." It was the sort of game with plenty of potential MVPs, and also the sort that leaves the fans singing at the end. In the closing moments, chants rang out from Penn State's white-clad, water-logged student section, and they were aimed di- rectly at the visiting Knights. "We're not rivals," went one; the other: "Go back to New Jersey." It went without saying that the message was directed at the visiting team, and not the transplants in navy blue jerseys. The fans don't want those guys going anywhere. S E P T E m B E R 2 0 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O m 6 'EXTRA SPECIAL' New Jersey natives help lift Nittany Lions to win over Scarlet Knights RUNAWAY TRAIN John Reid returned an in- terception in the third quarter. Photo by Steve Manuel

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