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Those kinds of impediments have rarely hindered the Lions this season. In their first 12 games, they stormed back from one late deficit a?er another, aver- aging 22.83 points to rank second in the Football Bowl Subdivision in second-half scoring. Against the Badgers, they trailed by 14 points at hal?ime, and that wasn't even their biggest deficit of the night. Midway through the second quarter, they were down by three touchdowns and were seemingly on their way to a lopsided loss. But McSorley and his receivers had other ideas. "Trace has been dynamic all year long," Franklin said. "I'm really proud of him – his attitude, his demeanor, the type of teammate he is, the type of leader he is. "Obviously, he made plays tonight. But the wideouts made plays for him. The wideouts made unbelievable plays for him, the tight ends made unbelievable plays for him. His mobility helped the O- line. We were able to get those guys to settle down. We felt really confident about our wide-receiver-to-DB match- ups and tight-end-to-DB matchups, but we just needed to strain, strain a little bit longer in protection and give us some time, and we would have a chance to do some good things." In the end, some good things hap- pened. More than a few, in fact. Here's a look: THE GOOD • At first, it didn't look as though the Nittany Lions were going to get their usual share of chunk plays against Wis- consin. Mike Gesicki had a tremendous 33-yard touchdown catch to briefly turn momentum in Penn State's direc- tion in the first quarter, and Saeed Blacknall scored on a 40-yard catch just before halftime, but otherwise, the offense wasn't able to generate much thrust. But on Penn State's first offensive play of the second half, Blacknall took a long pass over the middle 70 yards for a touchdown to cut Wisconsin's lead to seven. And that was just the beginning. By game's end, the Lions had scored on touchdown passes of 33, 40, 70 and 18 yards, shredding a Badgers defense that had allowed only eight scoring passes all season. Blacknall finished with six catches for 155 yards, a Big Ten Championship Game record. • All week long, Franklin had said Saquon Barkley was looking good in practice despite concerns about his ankle coming out of the season finale against Michigan State. He apparently wasn't bluffing. Barkley fought hard against Wisconsin's rugged defensive front, rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, but his biggest play was an 18- yard TD catch on a wheel route early in the fourth quarter that gave the Lions their first lead, 35-31. • A?er getting pushed around early in the game, Penn State's defense made the decisive play, as cornerback Grant Haley stopped Corey Clement short on fourth- and-1 on Wisconsin's final possession. "They ran the ball pretty well tonight," Haley said. "But there was an opportu- nity where they were going to run a counter. They ran it earlier in the game and they kind of split it for a touchdown. I saw them set the edge, so I just got trig- SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 5:27 WIS Ramesh, Austin 1-yard run (Endicott, A. kick) 14 plays, 81 yards, TOP 8:00....................................................... 7-0 3:06 WIS Clement, Corey 67-yard run (Endicott, A. kick) 2 plays, 72 yards, TOP 0:45.......................................................14-0 1:10 PSU Gesicki, Mike 33 yd pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:56.........................................................14-7 2ND 9:42 WIS Connelly, Ryan 12-yard fumble recovery (Endicott, A. kick)........................................................................ 21-7 5:15 WIS Ogunbowale, D. 7-yard run (Endicott, A. kick) 5 plays, 42 yards, TOP 2:31........................................................28-7 0:58 PSU Blacknall, Saeed 40-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 8 plays, 90 yards, TOP 1:27..................................................... 28-14 3RD 10:58 PSU Blacknall, Saeed 70-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 1 play, 70 yards, TOP 0:11......................................................... 28-21 4:22 PSU Barkley, Saquon 1-yard run (Davis, Tyler kick) 8 plays, 63 yards, TOP 3:17..................................................... 28-28 0:16 WIS Endicott, A. 23-yard field goal 9 plays, 70 yards, TOP 4:06....................................................31-28 4TH 13:41 PSU Barkley, Saquon 18-yard pass from McSorley, Trace (Davis, Tyler kick) 4 plays, 81 yards, TOP 1:30...................................................... 31-35 5:14 PSU Davis, Tyler 24 yd field goal 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 4:38.................................................... 31-38 D E c E M B E R 4 , 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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