Blue White Illustrated

Pitt Postgame

Penn State Sports Magazine

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ously," coach James Franklin said. "But at the end of the day, all that matters is that we didn't find a way to be successful and get the win." They didn't, but this week's good-vs.- bad ledger at least has some semblance of balance. Here's a look: THE GOOD • The wideouts all came to play. Faced with yet another Saquon Barkley-ori- ented defense, the Lions emphasized the short passing game. Hamilton had eight catches for 82 yards. Chris Godwn snagged a deflected ball, showing im- pressive concentration to make the first-down catch. Juwan Johnson had the first catch of his career, a 27-yarder. And DeAndre Thompkins made two re- markable plays: a one-armed 39-yard reception that should turn up on SportsCenter's plays of the day any minute now, and a 34-yarder on fourth- and-16 that kept alive Penn State's comeback hopes. • Shaking off a pair of first-quarter fumbles, both of which led to short-field Pitt touchdowns, Trace McSorley had a solid aAernoon, hitting 24 of 35 passes for 332 yards. He also had a turnover on the Lions' last offensive play of the game, as Ryan Lewis made a game-clinching interception in the end zone. But in be- tween, McSorley made a number of clutch plays to keep Penn State from fad- ing away on a day when they could easily have done just that. "He really, really has heart," Franklin said. "I thought he played well at times. But we have to get the ball off the ground no matter what. You have to step up in the pocket and take a sack. We can't fumble the ball." • Barkley scored five touchdowns, the most by a Penn State player since Ki- Jana Carter against Michigan State in 1994. When the Lions were able to get him the ball in the open field, he showed that he's one of the nation's best. He had 85 yards rushing on 20 carries, and 45 yards receiving, with a 40-yard touch- down on a wheel route. • The special teams made some nice plays. John Reid's 59-yard punt return in the first quarter illustrated the impor- tance of having a playmaker in the return game. And freshman punter Blake Gillikin had another terrific game, pin- ning Pitt at its own 1-yard line on his first attempt and uncorking a 69-yarder in the fourth quarter. There's one caveat here, and it's a big one: Quadree Hender- son's 84-yard return in the fourth quar- ter aAer a short kickoff by Joey Julius set up a Pitt touchdown and blunted the momentum that Penn State had built up. THE BAD • No need to over-think this one. Penn State looked helpless on defense against Pitt for large stretches of the game. The Lions gave up 341 yards on the ground, including 117 yards to James Conner. Pitt, which had averaged 2.5 yards per carry in its opener against Villanova, averaged 6.1 against Penn State. Pitt set the tone on its very first drive, dominating the Nittany Lions up front by taking the ball 99 yards for a touch- down. Conner's 24-yard carry on the second play of the possession was a wor- risome sign for the Lions, who were SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 8:03 Pitt Aston, G. 1-yard run (Blewitt, C. kick) 10 plays, 99 yards, TOP 4:43 ..................................................... 0-7 7:16 Pitt Henderson, Q. 7-yard pass from Peterman, N. (Blewitt, C. kick) 2 plays, 12 yards, TOP 0:38........................................................0-14 2:42 PSU Barkley, Saquon 3 yd run (Davis, Tyler kick) 1 play, 15 yards, TOP 0:09........................................................... 7-14 2ND 13:38 Pitt Orndoff, S. 2-yard pass from Peterman, N. (Blewitt, C. kick) 9 plays, 74 yards, TOP 4:04....................................................... 7-21 11:54 Pitt Aston, G. 3-yard run (Blewitt, C. kick) 3 plays, 30 yards, TOP 1:07........................................................7-28 0:42 PSU Barkley, Saquon 1-yard run (Davis, Tyler kick) 8 plays, 83 yards, TOP 2:35.................................................... 14-28 3RD 11:54 PSU Barkley, Saquon 40-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 2 plays, 46 yards, TOP 0:39.................................................... 21-28 7:24 Pitt Conner, J. 1-yard run (Blewitt, C. kick) 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:30.................................................... 21-35 4TH 13:42 PSU Barkley, Saquon 1-yard run (Davis, Tyler kick) 7 plays, 68 yards, TOP 2:04................................................... 28-35 12:04 PSU Davis, Tyler 38-yard field goal 4 plays, -9 yards, TOP 1:31....................................................... 31-35 10:24 Pitt Conner, J. 12-yard pass from Peterman, N. (Blewitt, C. kick) 3 plays, 10 yards, TOP 1:40...................................................... 31-42 5:00 PSU Barkley, Saquon 2-yard run (Hamilton, DaeSean pass from McSorley, Trace) 6 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:30................................................... 39-42 S E P T E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 2

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