Blue White Illustrated

November 2012

Penn State Sports Magazine

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SWING SHIFT Ficken appreciated the words of encouragement he received following a disappointing game at Virginia. Steve Manuel | H e had missed three of four field goal attempts and an extra point, but when Sam Ficken stepped onto the field with one second to play at Virginia earlier this season, there were no knots in his stomach, no feelings of apprehension floating around in his head. Quite the opposite, in fact. "I was actually pretty happy to redeem myself," Ficken said. "I think I missed four kicks my whole senior year [in high school]. I never experienced miss- ing that many kicks in one game, so I was happy to get out there and try to be the hero. "Unfortunately, it didn't happen." Ficken's 43-yard attempt veered wide left, preserving a 17-16 Virginia victory. The law of averages may have been working in Ficken's favor, but not much else was going his way on that last kick. The snap was low and the rain was picking up, making the field conditions a bit more treacherous than they'd been earlier in the after- noon. Ficken received a lot of friendly fire after his 1-of-5 day against the Cava- liers, much of it delivered via social media. Nittany Nation was upset, and it vented its frustration in no uncertain terms. Ficken described the days and

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