Blue White Illustrated

O C T O B E R 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 14 During the 40-plus years I've been following Penn State football, first as a fan and later as the owner and publisher of Blue White Illustrated, I've witnessed a number of "signature" games. For me, it all starts with the Nittany Lions' 15-14 victory over Kansas in the Orange Bowl in 1969 when I was a stu- dent at Penn State. The next two and a half decades were the golden years of the program. Penn State thrashed No. 1 Pitt in 1981 and defeated Georgia and Miami to claim national championships in 1982 and '86, respectively. I could probably go on and list 10 other signature moments, but the Lions' 24-21 win over second-ranked Ohio State this past Saturday holds a very special meaning for me. For the past five years, Penn State has endured the onerous stigma of the Sandusky scandal and the NCAA sanctions that followed, and many national college football analysts speculated that the program would be in a deep freeze for a decade or more. There was talk that James Franklin and his staff would never be able to deliver the kind of euphoric moments that were commonplace dur- ing the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Heading into last Saturday's game, Penn State was a 20-point home under- dog to the Buckeyes. Many players were watching ESPN on Saturday morning as its panel of commentators dismissed their upset hopes. "I listened to everybody on College GameDay this morning talk about how we didn't have a chance. Our defense was inexperienced. We're young. We're not that fast to the football. We're not that physical," outside linebacker Manny Bowen said. "We came out and proved everybody wrong. That's a great feeling." That must have been a very satisfying feeling indeed for the players in that locker room aAer the game. Rarely in life are we presented with opportunities to prove the world wrong, and the Lions seized their opportunity with gusto. But it does bear mentioning that the GameDay analysts weren't inaccurate in their portrayal of Penn State's defensive performance during its first four games of the season. Pitt had rushed for 341 yards in a 42-39 win, and Michigan gouged the Lions for 326 rushing yards in a 49-10 thumping in Ann Arbor. At one point during its loss to Michi- gan on Sept. 24, Penn State had seven linebackers injured, including its three projected preseason starters: Nyeem Wartman-White, Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell. For most of its opening six games, Penn State's top linebackers were Bowen, former walk-on Brandon Smith, sophomore Jake Cooper and true freshman Cam Brown. Prior to Penn State's matchup with the Buckeyes, Franklin indicated that Cabinda and Bell might be ready to play. As it turned out, they were ready, and what a difference they made. Ohio State had been averaging 300.5 yards per game rushing and 6.5 yards per carry heading into the matchup. But they managed only 168 yards and a 4.2-yard average on 40 attempts vs. the Lions. It was the Buckeyes' worst rushing per- formance of the season. Cabinda and Bell had been expected to see no more than 25 to 30 plays against the Buckeyes, but both were on the field for just over 60 of Ohio State's 83 offen- sive plays. Bell finished the game as Penn State's leading tackler with 19 stops, while Cabinda was second with 12 tackles, and both were credited with a sack. All told, the starting linebacker trio of Bell, Cabinda and Bowen finished the game with 42 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. It was the type of performance that Penn State seemed to produce on a regular basis in the past, rekindling memories of Linebacker U's glory days. Except in the 1982 and '94 seasons – seasons in which the team's success was predicated on an abundance of offensive firepower – Penn State's signature wins have been the outgrowth of a football philosophy that puts defense first, spe- cial teams second and offense last. That's probably why the oddsmakers had Ohio State as such a heavy favorite despite playing on the road in a tough environment. With the Lions fielding an injury-riddled linebacker corps and a youthful defensive line, it was difficult to imagine them containing an Ohio State team that was averaging 516.5 yards of total offense and 49.3 points per game. Those odds seemed to get even longer when it was revealed just before kickoff that Penn State's most experienced de- fensive lineman, redshirt junior end Garrett Sickels, would not play until the second half due to a suspension im- posed by Franklin. If Penn State was even considering upsetting Ohio State, conventional wis- dom mandated that the offense would need to score close to 40 points against a Buckeye defense that was allowing just 280.5 yards and 12.8 points per game. With the Nittany Lions fielding an inconsistent running game that had struggled in five of the team's first six games, that seemed like a tall order. But as it turned out, those assess- ments were incorrect. The offense didn't need to assume an overwhelming burden; it just needed to make a few plays here and there. That's because the defense held the Buckeyes to 21 points and just one rushing touchdown. With Cabinda and Bell back in the lineup, it became clear that Penn State's biggest problem in its earlier games had been the absence of their physical presence Victory over second-ranked Ohio State shows Nittany Lions' future is bright PHIL'S CORNER

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