Penn State Sports Magazine
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sprinted right and dived into the cor- ner of the end zone for the go-ahead score. The Lions added a late touch- down on a 3-yard rush by Michael Zordich, and by the time players gath- ered in the corner of the end zone to sing the alma mater, the homecoming crowd was going bonkers. Again, why not? It was Penn State's first victory over a ranked opponent since a 23-18 victory over No. 25 Purdue last Octo- ber, and it was the most drama any- one had seen in Beaver Stadium in quite a while, with the Lions scoring 22 unanswered points to end the back-and-fourth matchup. "You can't say enough about these kids, with what they've been through," O'Brien said. "They're smart, they're tough, they're commit- ted to Penn State. They come to prac- tice every week, and the practices aren't always pretty, but there's a lot of effort. There's a great chemistry in that locker room. … Guys are playing hard, and it's really fun to see the smiles on their faces." There were smiles all around as the Lions improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten. McGloin finished with 282 passing yards on a school-record 35 completions and also accounted for three touchdowns – two passing and one rushing. Zach Zwinak added 121 rushing yards on 28 carries. Afterward, McGloin described the Lions' offensive approach as "high- risk, high-reward." "We went for it on fourth down a few times and got it, and we continued to move the ball because of it," he said. "[O'Brien] just has a lot of confidence in us and what we do as an offense, and any time your coach has that confidence in you, you get fired up." The Lions also were effective on de- fense, holding Northwestern to 247 yards just one week after it totaled 704 against Indiana. Said O'Brien, "Our defense did a heck of a job." The Lions jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but two key plays undid their strong start: a muffed punt by Jesse Della Valle and a drive-extending (and highly questionable) pass interference call on Stephon Morris that had the whole stadium groaning and O'Brien fuming. Suddenly, it seemed as though a golden opportunity was slipping away. Even though Penn State had won its SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 3:41 2ND 9:34 6:23 0:30 3RD 7:17 3:12 4TH 0:50 9:49 2:37 1:30 PSU PSU NU NU PSU NU NU PSU PSU PSU Ficken, Sam 21-yard field goal 13 plays, 33 yards, TOP 5:56.......................................................................0-3 Zwinak, Zach 1-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 8 plays, 40 yards, TOP 2:16.......................................................................0-10 Mark, Venric 2-yard run (Budzien, Jeff kick) 3 plays, 17 yards, TOP 1:05.......................................................................7-10 Jones, Tony 11-yard pass from Siemian, Trevor (Budzien, Jeff kick) 8 plays, 66 yards, TOP 1:50.....................................................................14-10 Robinson, Allen 8-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 12 plays, 80 yards, TOP 5:23...................................................................14-17 Colter, Kain 10-yard run (Budzien, Jeff kick) 11 plays, 71 yards, TOP 4:00...................................................................21-17 Mark, Venric 75-yard punt return (Budzien, Jeff kick)...............................28-17 Robinson, Allen 6-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Zordich, Michael rush) 18 plays, 82 yards, TOP 5:55...................................................................28-25 McGloin, Matt 5-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 15 plays, 85 yards, TOP 5:38...................................................................28-32 Zordich, Michael 3-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 3 plays, 28 yards, TOP 0:18.....................................................................28-39 three previous games, the Northwest- ern game was seen as the team's chance to make a statement. The Lions' three previous opponents – Temple, Navy and Illinois – all were all unranked, and it was not a big sur- prise that the team was able to turn its season around at their expense. The Wildcats, on the other hand, went into the game unbeaten at 5-0. The Nittany Lions opened the scor- ing on their second possession, con- verting two fourth downs en route to a 21-yard Sam Ficken field goal. Then they added a touchdown on a 1-yard dive by Zwinak. But Della Valle took his eyes off the ball on an attempted fair catch follow- ing a second-quarter Northwestern punt, and the turnover set up a 2- yard touchdown run by Venric Mark. Despite controlling the ball for nearly 19 minutes in the first half, the Lions went into the locker room trailing 14- 10, thanks in large part to the inter- ference call on Morris on Northwestern's final possession of the half. That drive ended with an 11- yard TD catch by Tony Jones. The Lions retook the lead, 17-14, on an 8-yard slant to Allen Robinson mid- way through the third quarter, but Northwestern answered right back with a 10-yard touchdown run by Kain O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 2 2 Colter, and Mark followed with a 75- yard touchdown on a punt return. The Lions cut Northwestern's 28-17 lead to three points early in the fourth quarter on Robinson's second touchdown catch and Zordich's two-point conver- sion run. Then McGloin took over. "There's no quit in that locker room," O'Brien said. "I don't know what's going to happen the rest of the year, but there will be no quit with those kids who are sitting in that locker room. What you have to do as a coach and as a staff is, you have to bring them together. You have to point at the clock and say, 'Look guys, it's an 11-point lead with 50 seconds left in the third quarter. There's a huge amount of time to play football with.' And that's what we pointed out." The Lions now head into an off-week, after which they will travel to Iowa to begin the second half of the season. They are still in contention for the Leaders Division regular-season title, and they are playing with some verve, as evidenced by their eight fourth- down conversions in 14 attempts this season. "That's one of the reasons we won the game today, because we were going for it on fourth down," McGloin said. "Don't be surprised if we con- tinue to do it throughout the year." B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M