Blue White Illustrated

N A T E   B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M BALTIMORE – The strategies employed by the coaching staffs at both Penn State and Maryland on Saturday aBernoon worked to put on a wild show in front of 68,948 fans at M&T Bank Stadium. Really, though, they might have been just as effective at the Horseshoe Casino half a mile away. High-risk, high-reward, and on this day, one winner and one loser. Lining up in cover-zero, a man-to-man defensive scheme with no deep safeties, or cover-one, a scheme utilizing press cor- ners, Maryland sold out its pass defense to limit the Nittany Lions' running game and rack up sacks. With a deep pass play or two to exploit the gamble, Penn State's think- ing went, the Terrapins would go back to their normal defensive identity. "Usually, when you play someone like that and you burn them a couple times deep, they stop," Franklin said. "And they didn't." Penn State struggled to find any offen- sive rhythm out of the gates, punting twice off three-and-outs. But quarterback Christian Hackenberg finally found his man on second-and-6 late in the first quarter. The play, a 38-yard contested pass completion to wideout DaeSean Hamil- ton, moved the Nittany Lions into Mary- land's side of the field for the first time on the aBernoon. Two plays later, Hacken- berg hooked up with Chris Godwin under the same set of circumstances – a deep ball, contested in one-on-one coverage between Hamilton and Maryland corner- back Anthony Nixon – to pick up another 40 yards and set up Saquon Barkley's 6- yard touchdown carry the next play. "It's one of those things where you're going to look at the leverage and see what you've got and see how you can get the best opportunity and put them in the best situation when you see it," Hackenberg said. "It's something that we're very con- fident in. We understand we've got some guys out there to make the plays. If you put the ball up, they're going to get it." The Nittany Lion wideouts did that to great success Saturday. Though turnovers, an ineffective run game and difficult field position thwarted some of the Lions' offensive success through most of the rest of the first half, another opportunity presented itself when they took possession with less than four minutes to play. A 38-yard completion to Saeed Blacknall followed by Godwin's 37-yard touchdown meant 75 yards spanned in just two plays and, more important, a 14-13 lead. By that point in the game, Godwin noted that he and his fellow receivers un- derstood that the challenge had been laid down by a Maryland team willing to take big risks. Said Godwin, "They want to win the game as much as we do, so they're going to come out and compete, and it's up to us to answer the call. "Honestly, you know that you have to win. It's a receiver's dream to have one- on-one coverage because you know the possibility of you getting the ball is in- creased. So when it's one-on-one cover- age, you have to win your one-on-one battle. It's something we talk about each and every week." This week especially, that conversation revolved not only around winning one- on-one battles, but also taking advan- tage of opportunities that, though limited, inevitably come during the course of a game. According to the stat line following the game, Penn State's re- ceivers did exactly that. With just 13 re- ceptions spread among six receivers, the Nittany Lions managed to rack up 315 yards and three touchdowns through the air, moving Hackenberg into first place in Penn State history in career passing yards (7,453) and comple- tions (608). While Hamilton's five receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown, and Godwin's 135 yards and a touchdown on four receptions led the way, even redshirt junior Geno Lewis got in on the act in a very big way. With Hackenberg noting that he felt the Lions' offense had stalled somewhat through the third quarter – in spite of Hamilton's 20-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play, 79-yard scoring drive – the two teams traded punches to the tune of a 27-24 Maryland lead going into the fourth quarter. As Penn State pushed the ball downfield, Lewis's season of disap- pointment quickly turned around on a leaping 27-yard touchdown over Terrapin DB Sean Davis in the corner of the end zone. It was only the eighth catch of the season for Lewis, but it would prove to be the game-winner for the Nittany Lions. "I love that Hack has the confidence in those guys to do it," Franklin said. "We've just got to keep doing it and guys have got to understand you don't know how many carries you're going to get, you don't know how many times we're going to run behind you, you don't know how many times the ball is going to be thrown to you, but when it does you've got to make plays." O c T O B E R 2 4 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 6 MASTERS OF DISASTER Penn State takes advantage of the Terrapins' high-risk defensive gambit HACK ATTACK With Maryland in man-to- man coverage, Hacken- berg began looking deep and repeatedly found his wideouts for big plays. Photo by Steve Manuel

• Cover