Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 13 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 EAST LANSING, Mich. - Without elaborating, James Franklin offered a solemn midweek warning that his Nit- tany Lions were banged up. In a 55-16 defeat at the hands of No. 5 Michigan State, Penn State's defense demonstrated just how banged up it re- ally is; a thorough gashing at the hands of the Spartans proved as much. The Nit- tany Lions were missing starting end Garrett Sickels, who was leA home alto- gether due to an unspecified injury, and they got another two-plays-and-out performance by Burlsworth Trophy fi- nalist Carl Nassib. Without those two key players, the defensive line was a shell of itself. Relying heavily on their consistent dis- ruption of opponents' offensive lines, an asset that hid some of the deficiencies of their back end, the Lions were without recourse against veteran quarterback Connor Cook on Saturday. "Obviously, he was comfortable in the pocket," Franklin said. "We knew their of- fensive line and their defensive line was the strength of their team. We've been able to get pressure pretty much on every- body all year long, but when you take your two starting defensive ends off of your unit, that's going to have an effect." Moving senior Anthony Zettel out to defensive end, a position the Michigan native hadn't played at all this season, the Nittany Lions were completely un- able to pressure Cook into making mis- takes. Unable to deploy their most disruptive force, the line was lost. Said Franklin, "You'd love for someone to step up in that role, but you lose two out of your four starters, it had an effect. It had a big effect on us tonight, obviously." Behind his hulking, veteran of- fensive linemen, Cook threw for 248 yards and three touchdowns on the day, completing 19 of 26 passes. He was- n't sacked, making this the first game since the 2013 season in which the Nit- tany Lions failed to reach the opposing quarterback. "With the size and experience that they have on the offensive line and with us missing two out of our four starters in the game, they were able to take advantage of that," Franklin said. "They were pretty much able to run consistently, and then when they did take shots, we weren't able to get pressure on them. "We did not dictate the game to them. They were able to dictate the game to us, especially with their offense, and the turnovers with our offense put the whole team in a difficult position." Before losing complete control of the game, the Nittany Lions found them- selves in just such a compromised situa- tion. They had forced the Spartans into a third-and-9 at their own 26, but Cook completed a pass to wideout Aaron Bur- bridge on the sideline that went for 13 yards and a first down. Needing just five more plays to cover another 61 yards, the Spartans jumped ahead, 27-10, on Bur- bridge's remarkable 29-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Lamenting the surrendered third down, one of two on the critical eight-play, 75- yard possession, linebacker Troy Reeder acknowledged the discouragement of the series. "We knew we needed to have a big third quarter defensively to be able to continue to get the ball back for our of- fense and let them do their thing," Reeder said. The game spiraled out of control soon thereaAer, as Penn State simply couldn't get off the field, allowing five of the Spar- tans' 24 first downs on one drive in the third quarter. On the aAernoon, Penn State allowed Michigan State to convert 8 of 11 third- down opportunities, a trend that sopho- more cornerback Grant Haley noted as troubling the past two weeks. Looking to correct the issue in the weeks separating the regular-season finale and whatever bowl the Nittany Lions play in, Haley said some soul-searching must ensue. "We've got to really step up on those third downs and get off the field. We did- n't do that at the time we needed to," he said. "We've just got to go look back, look at each other in the mirror and really own up to ourselves." THE BIG HURT Michigan State takes advantage of a shorthanded Penn State defense SPIN MOVE Bur- bridge's spectac- ular touchdown dealt a huge blow to Penn State's upset hopes. Photo by Steve Manuel

• Cover