Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/86430
The best and the rest from the Nittany JUDGMENT and the game-winning rushing TD. Keeping cool in the face of intense pressure, the Nittany Lions' senior quarterback engineered two touch- down drives of more than 80 yards in the fourth quarter to secure the win. PLAY OF THE GAME Trailing the Wildcats, P 28-17, with just over 10 minutes re- maining, Penn State opted to go for it on fourth-and-4 at the Northwest- ern 6-yard line. McGloin's touch- down pass to Allen Robinson cut the deficit to 28-25 following Michael Zordich's 3-yard conversion. BEST PASS Of McGloin's 35 comple- tions, none were more impressive than when he kept his composure on fourth-and-2 from the Northwestern 19, trailing 28-25 with time winding down, and found Brandon Moseby- Felder for a 13-yard gain to pick up the critical first down. WORST PASS McGloin's shot put on fourth-and-4 from the Northwestern 34 came up well short of his intended receiver late in the second quarter. BEST RUN Northwestern's quarterback Kain Colter faked the handoff, cut to his left and pranced into the end zone on a 10-yard run late in the third quarter. COACHSPEAK GAMBLIN' MAN Bill O'Brien elected to go for it on fourth-and-4 on the 6-yard line, in- stead of kicking the field goal in the fourth quar- ter. "I didn't think twice about it," he said. John Beale O C T O B E R 6 , 2 0 1 2 4 John Beale WORST DROP Jesse Della Valle called for a routine fair catch on a third- quarter punt, but with strong wind shifting the ball's direction, he sim- ply dropped it. Northwestern defen- sive back Nick VanHoose picked it up at Penn State's 17 to set up the Wildcats' first touchdown. BEST HIT Northwestern running back Mike Trumpy tried picking up a key third-and-2 late in the first half, but was smacked backward by Jordan Hill and Gerald Hodges for a loss. BEST KICK Alex Butterworth pooched a 33-yarder down to the Northwestern 1 on his very first punt of the game. BEST EFFORT Zach Zwinak sacrificed his body, flying like a missile into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Nittany Lions a 10-0 lead. KEY STATISTIC Against an offense that put up more than 700 yards a week ago, PSU secured 30 first downs on 99 plays, owning the football for 39 minutes, 17 seconds to Northwest- ern's 20 minutes, 43 seconds. Mean- while, the Wildcats were limited to just 247 total offensive yards. – NATE BAUER B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M LAYER OF THE GAME Matt McGloin com- pleted 35 passes for 282 yards, with two passing touchdowns Lions' thriller over Northwestern CALLS PLAYER OF THE GAME McGloin finished the day with 282 passing yards, two pass- ing touchdowns and the game- winning rushing TD.