Blue White Illustrated

GAME GRADES QUARTERBACK Trace McSorley has shown consistent improvement throughout the season, but this was his best game yet. Before being pulled in the fourth quarter, he completed 11 of 18 attempts, racking up 240 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a quar- terback rating of 209.8, which is easily his best of the season. Oh, and Tommy Stevens showed his wheels with a 45- yard rush in mop-up time. GRADEA RUNNING BACK Saquon Barkley sur- passed the 100-yard mark in the first half, but he didn't let up, finishing the night with 167 yards rushing and one touchdown. He added another 44 yards receiving and a score. Miles Sanders, Andre Robinson and Mark Allen all aver- aged at least 6 yards per carry when given the opportunity. GRADEA RECEIVER There were a few drops, but most would have been difficult catches. Chris Godwin led the way with four receptions for 87 yards, but Mike Gesicki also had a big night: four recep- tions for 65 yards. GRADEA OFFENSIVE LINEThe Lions would have finished with 600 yards of total offense if Stevens hadn't lost a yard on the final play of the game. Still, 599 yards is pretty good. McSorley was also sacked just once. That about sums it up. GRADEA DEFENSIVE LINEThe D-line totaled four of Penn State's six tackles for loss. They also had three of the four sacks on Iowa QB C.J. Beathard. Kevin Givens had one of his best games yet, totaling four tackles, one for a loss of yards, and a sack. GRADEA LINEBACKER Compared to the first half against Purdue, the tackling was much improved. Jason Cabinda led the team with eight stops. He also had one of the best defensive plays of the evening, stuffing Beathard on fourth- and-1 in the first quarter. GRADEA DEFENSIVE BACK Beathard totaled 204 yards passing on the evening, but the Hawkeyes were well under 150 yards before the game was out of reach. Marcus Allen and Grant Haley led the group with three tackles each, while Troy Apke's interception pretty much sealed the win. GRADEA SPECIAL TEAMSIowa blocked a field goal, but aside from that, the coverage units were solid. Miles Sanders is get- ting closer and closer to breaking a kick return. GRADEA COACHINGJoe Moorhead put McSor- ley in position to pick apart Iowa's de- fense right from the opening kickoff, but it was the balanced attack that kept the Hawkeyes from gaining any mo- mentum on defense. Brent Pry's de- fense allowed just one touchdown before the game was out of reach. Solid game plans all around. GRADEA CROWDNittany Lion fans could hardly have asked for better weather in the first week of November. The blue- and-white faithful came out in full force, and those fans stuck around until the very end, despite the fact that the game was pretty much over early in the fourth quarter. Attendance: 106,194. GRADEA 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 6 R y A N S N y D E R | B L U E W H I T E I L L U s T R A T E d Penn State welcomed multiple Class of 2017 prospects to campus for official visits this weekend. While the total list of recruits num- bered only about 60 players, James Franklin and his assistants hosted four high school seniors for official visits, three of whom have yet to make a verbal commitment. The top prospect was safety Lamont Wade of Clairton, Pa. A five-star player who has taken more than a dozen unoffi- cial visits to Penn State, Wade remains the staff's top overall prospect for this year's class. He's set to make his decision Dec. 17, and many believe he will chose either Penn State, Tennessee or Pitt. Elijah Conliffe of Hampton, Va., used his first official visit to see Penn State's game against Iowa. A four-star defen- sive tackle, Conliffe has been leaning toward Alabama since the summer, but it's a positive sign that Penn State was able to get him on campus. He still has four official visits remaining, none of which are set at this time, so a commit- ment isn't expected until January, at the earliest. Corey Bolds of Paramus, N.J., also used an official visit to attend this weekend's game. A three-star defensive tackle, Bolds has earned just shy of 20 scholarship offers, although some schools have cooled on him in recent months. That will likely work to Penn State's advantage, although Bolds hasn't publicly stated where each school stands at the moment. The fourth official visitor was future Penn State offensive lineman Michael Miranda of Stow, Ohio. The three-star prospect is planning to enroll for the spring semester, so he decided to use his official visit this weekend since he will already be a student when the rest of the class visits in January. Penn State also hosted a few notable prospects in the Class of 2018. Four- star safety Kwantel Raines of Aliquippa, Pa., and defensive lineman Aeneas Hawkins of Cincinnati were the most notable players in attendance. Raines was supposed to visit Penn State two weeks ago for the Ohio State game but couldn't make the trip. Hawkins visited Penn State in the July and had great things to say, noting that the trip surpassed his expectations. Saturday was his first game in Beaver Stadium. –RYAN  SNYDER R E C R U I T I N G Official visits highlight another big Penn State recruiting weekend

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