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PLAYER OF THE GAME It would be tough to give this to anyone other than Saquon Barkley. The Nittany Lion tail- back had a career afternoon, racking up five touchdowns – four on the ground and another through the air – to produce all but three of the Nittany Lions' points. PLAYER OF THE GAMENo one can fault Trace McSorley's performance, but his deep-ball shot to tight end Mike Gesicki could not have come at a worse time. Having just completed a key fourth down and with more than enough time to at least tie the score with a field goal, McSorley aired it out and the result was a game-clinching in- terception. BEST PASSMcSorley made plenty of great passes throughout the afternoon. At a particularly key moment in the second quarter, the redshirt sophomore hung in the pocket to deliver an in- stride strike to Gesicki. It set up a Barkley touchdown to cut the halftime deficit to 28-14. BEST RUNIt would be silly to try to single out a single run on an afternoon in which Barkley put together 85 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries, not to mention a 40-yard receiving touch- down to tighten the score early in the second half. Maybe more impressive than Barkley's shiftiness, however, was his ability to pound it in on the goal line. Each of his touchdown carries was for 3 or fewer yards. BEST CATCHHow did Chris Godwin catch that? McSorely's pass was air- mailed into the hands of Pitt's corner- back, but Godwin managed to stay with the play and pick up the key first down on the deflection late in the third quarter. DeAndre Thompkins' 39-yard reception under blanketed coverage to open the fourth quarter was equally impressive. WORST DROPDaeSean Hamilton put together an incredible afternoon, lead- ing the Nittany Lions with eight recep- tions for 82 yardss. But he let one slip when the Nittany Lions needed it most. On a perfect stop-and-go pattern, Mc- Sorley's spot-on floater landed in Hamilton's hands – with what appeared to be a clear path to the end zone – then landed on the Heinz Field turf. BEST SACKThe Panthers finally got to McSorley when they needed to most. Tripping up the Nittany Lion signal- caller on a key third down in the red zone in the fourth quarter, Quintin Wirginis forced a Tyler Davis field goal to preserve Pitt's lead. BEST EFFORTWhat more can be said about Barkley? In a game that Penn State appeared out of from the start, the Nittany Lion running back kept grind- ing. His five touchdowns were the most at Penn State since Ki-Jana Carter's five against Michigan State in 1994. JUDGMENT CALLS 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 4 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

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