Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 2 5 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 3 action in the second half), Saquon Barkley ended up having a quiet a?er- noon in what was almost certainly his final regular-season game as a Nittany Lion. Barkley finished with 77 yards on 16 carries and was the team's second- leading rusher behind Stevens. That said, had he still been in the game to face a gassed Maryland defense in the second half, Barkley might still be run- ning. • Moore went into the game as the Big Ten's leading pass-catcher with 72 re- ceptions, and he proved to be as trouble- some as expected, catching eight passes for 100 yards. • The Lions returned two kickoffs on Saturday and got stuffed inside the 10- yard line on both of them. Barkley back- tracked to the 9-yard line on the opening kickoff of the game, while Brandon Polk bobbled the ball on his attempt in the third quarter and only got to the 5. LOOKING AHEAD So now they wait. The Nittany Lions won't find out their postseason destina- tion until a?er the conference champi- onship games next weekend, but they did everything they could do against the Terps to make their case. The Cotton and Orange bowls have been mentioned as potential hosts, but it's all conjecture until a?er the playoff field is announced. A major bowl appearance may not have been what the Lions were angling for coming off of last season's loss to South- ern California in the Rose, but it's an- other sign of the program's overall progress. The last time Penn State went to New Year's Six bowls in consecutive years was, believe it or not, 1985-86. The Lions went to the Orange Bowl at the end of the '85 season, losing to Oklahoma for the national championship, then claimed the title the following year with a victory over Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. Whatever the matchup turns out to be, Penn State will head into it with some momentum, having won its past three games decisively. And another encourag- ing sign at Maryland was the return of Bates and Buchholz. Having them avail- able for the bowl game will help Penn State address two of its biggest concerns during the regular season: the inconsis- tency of its offensive line and pass rush. "I'm very pleased with where we're at," Franklin said. "The exciting thing for me is that I think we're getting better. I think we're just going to continue to get better. We've got some young guys. I'm really excited to get into this period right now, to continue developing the young guys. You look at some of the second-team guys who got in the game tonight and how well they played. We're going to have some these developmental practices [prior to the bowl game]. I just told the guys, we're going to have one of our 'young guy' practices in the stadium to allow those guys to go in and scrimmage. … We're going to go into the stadium and get a?er it. I think that will be good. That's what I'm excited about. I think we just keep getting better. I think the staff is getting better. I think the players are getting better."

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