Blue White Illustrated

"I'm really proud of Saquon," coach James Franklin said. "He's handled ad- versity, and you've never seen bad body language from him, ever. He's not having the big games and the statistics that I think people anticipated, but you've never seen him once [display] bad body language or hang his head. He's a great team player, and he keeps persevering, waiting for opportunities. And when it came, he made a big play for us. That's what happens when you keep a great at- titude." The victory over the previously un- beaten Gophers gave Penn State a huge li?, coming on the heels of a lopsided loss to Michigan a week earlier. It got them back over .500 and improved their postseason chances. In other words, there was a lot of good to go with a bit of bad. Here's the breakdown… THE GOOD • What can you say about Trace Mc- Sorley? The go-for-broke offense that Penn State deployed against Minnesota didn't get results in the first half, aside from a 53-yard completion to DeAndre Thompkins. But McSorley took charge in the third quarter, hitting passes of 80 yards to Irvin Charles, 36 yards to Chris Godwin and 53 yards to Mike Gesicki. He also rushed for a 6-yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, the redshirt sophomore engineered the tying drive with less than a minute to play, setting up Tyler Davis's tying field goal with a 23- yard run. McSorley finished with 335 yards passing and 73 yards rushing. Said Franklin, "He kept his cool and made some amazing plays. He gave guys chances to make plays." • Godwin had a strong a?ernoon, fin- ishing with 97 receiving yards on four catches, including a diving 20-yarder that prolonged Penn State's tying drive in the fourth quarter. • Charles could not have picked a bet- ter moment to score his first college touchdown. With the Lions trailing by 10 in the third quarter and their offense floundering, the redshirt freshman wideout caught a pass over the middle and shrugged off Minnesota defensive back Adekunle Ayinde for an 80-yard score on third-and-11. It was a game- changing moment that occurred just when it seemed the PSU offense had flat-lined. Said Franklin, "That got the crowd back involved, which was criti- cal." • How about a round of applause for Tyler Davis? The junior kicker is still perfect on field goals in his college career, having hit three against Minnesota to run his streak to 17 in a row dating back to last year. None of those previous kicks were more clutch than the 40-yarder he hit to send the game to overtime. • The Lions' depleted defense turned in a gritty effort against a Gophers team that went into the game ranked fourth in the Big Ten in rushing offense. Lineback- ers Cam Brown, Manny Bowen and Brandon Smith filled in ably for the team's injured veterans. The Gophers got their rushing yards, finishing with 228 as a team, but they didn't run away from Penn State, thanks to those linebackers (and to safety Marcus Allen, whose run support resulted in an astonishing 22 tackles). "I'm very proud of our defense," Franklin said. "Our defense is under SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 0:55 Minn. Carpenter, Emmit 37-yard field goal 10 plays, 53 yards, TOP 4:08......................................................3-0 2ND 12:00 PSU Davis, Tyler 19-yard field goal 7 plays, 73 yards, TOP 3:49......................................................... 3-3 2:06 Minn. Wolitarsky,Drew 9-yard pass from Leidner, Mitch (Carpenter, Emmit kick) 9 plays, 63 yards, TOP 4:41....................................................... 10-3 0:01 Minn. Carpenter, Emmit 35-yard field goal 9 plays, 70 yards, TOP 1:12......................................................... 13-3 3RD 9:54 PSU Charles, Irvin 80-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 3 plays, 80 yards, TOP 0:52.....................................................13-10 7:28 PSU Davis, Tyler 27-yard field goal 5 plays, 33 yards, TOP 0:57...................................................... 13-13 2:27 PSU McSorley, Trace 6-yard run (Davis, Tyler kick) 6 plays, 85 yards, TOP 2:06....................................................13-20 4TH 13:29 Minn. Brooks, Shannon 37-yard run (Carpenter, Emmit kick) 8 plays, 87 yards, TOP 3:58................................................... 20-20 0:54 Minn. Carpenter, Emmit 37-yard field goal 11 plays, 58 yards, TOP 4:40.................................................. 23-20 0:02 PSU Davis, Tyler 40-yard field goal 8 plays, 53 yards, TOP 0:52....................................................23-23 OT 15:00 Minn. Carpenter, Emmit 46-yard field goal 5 plays, 0 yards, TOP 0:00..................................................... 26-23 15:00 PSU Barkley, Saquon 25-yard run 5 plays, 0 yards, TOP 0:00.....................................................26-29 O c T O B E R 1 , 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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