Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 6 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 12 T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ g M A I L . c O M When Penn State jumped out to a 7-0 lead a?er the first two minutes of Satur- day night's game against Iowa, junior wide receiver Chris Godwin said his team was "flying high." "That's something we put an emphasis on, starting fast," he added. "Coming out, we got a big return and we got a big momentum swing on the first drive. That's big for us moving on because we started to click on all cylinders." Perhaps even bigger – "Huge," as head coach James Franklin described it in his post-game press conference – was the ability to sustain that momentum, par- ticularly on third downs in a 41-14 Penn State win. Entering the game against the Hawkeyes, the Nittany Lions had con- verted only 25 percent of their third- down attempts. On Saturday they converted 50 percent, including four of their first six tries. Godwin said Penn State's ability to keep drives alive was "big for us, because I think all the way up until this point we hadn't really had much success on third downs, so that was kind of a focal point for us, to improve there. No matter what you're doing, you can always improve and that's an area we can really improve on. So for us to have some success there, it's big for us moving down the line." Of Penn State's seven third-down con- versions, two came from Godwin – an 11- yard reception on third-and-10 in the first quarter and then a 13-yard reception on third-and-5 in the second. "They were playing some zone cover- age, so it opened up a couple different things for us," Godwin said of his plays. "Trace had some bombs and had some time with the offensive line giving him some great blocking and then he's able to find us, so at that point in time it was do whatever you can to move the chains." Godwin led the Lions with 87 receiving yards on four catches off of five targets. But two of those catches not only gave a boost to his individual statistics, they also helped sustain drives and wear down the Iowa defense, which in turn took some of the pressure off his teammates. "It's very important, converting third downs," freshman offensive guard Ryan Bates said. "I feel like when you get that first down, it's kind of a sigh of relief and like, OK, we've got four more. Let's put this ball in the end zone. Each week we're learning more and more and getting bet- ter as a unit. I can only imagine what we'll be like at the end of the season." This week it helped PSU put the ball into the end zone five different times, ac- cumulate 599 yards of total offense and li? it to a 7-2 record with three games re- maining. CHAIN REACTION Penn State keeps the sticks moving in its lopsided win over the Hawkeyes PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s? k c i t t t e k man@g .PSUtixm www.PSUtixman.com at ootba Get yo k c i t t o gm .PSUtixman.com all ur s t s e k Godwin was one of Penn State's primary offensive threats against Iowa. The junior wideout led the team with four catches for 87 yards, and two of his recep- tions were for first downs. Photo by Steve Manuel

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