Blue White Illustrated

D E c E M B E R 3 1 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 3 to Sanders gave them the ball at the Nit- tany Lions' 33-yard line, setting up a touchdown that kept Washington from falling further behind. The turnover was one of three, as Mc- Sorley also threw an interception in the back of the end zone and had another pass picked off when it was batted in the air deep in Washington territory. In ad- dition, Penn State came within inches of throwing another pick when a shovel pass ricocheted around a scrum at the line of scrimmage and grazed the turf just before a Huskies defender could se- cure the ball. Going into the postseason, Penn State had the Big Ten's best turnover margin by far at +14. Their uncharacteristic sloppi- ness was the one factor that kept the Nit- tany Lions from turning the game into a rout. Said Franklin, "I think if we didn't turn the ball over, it could have been a very different game." • Costly, too, was the roughing-the- passer penalty that Shane Simmons drew late in the first quarter. Trailing 14- 0 at the time, the Huskies would have faced third-and-long but instead were given a first down and capitalized with a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that cut the Nittany Lions' lead in half. • Maybe it was the roof or the lights, but DeAndre Thompkins seemed to be having some problems tracking punts. He muffed one in the first quarter, al- though he did recover the loose ball. And he had to backtrack to field several oth- ers. • Boy, are the Lions going to miss Barkley. His 92-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was yet another re- minder that he can be a difference- maker no matter where, when or how he gets the ball. If you're an opponent, any amount of daylight is too much. Barkley didn't handle kickoffs Saturday and alternated series with Sanders, al- though he still got 18 carries. He didn't officially declare for the NFL Dra@ a@er the victory, but his limited role against Washington was a de facto admission that he was playing his last game in the blue and white. LOOKING AHEAD Franklin has said that every team that doesn't win the national championship goes into its off- season feeling a little bit unful- filled. Maybe that will be the case for the Nittany Lions, whose only losses this season were by a total of four points. But while they didn't make the College Football Playoff field, they did pull off their seventh victory in seven trips to the Fiesta Bowl. That's a pretty nice way to bow out. "You look at our season, and there were some ups and downs, some twists and turns," Franklin said. "But these guys never stopped believing in one an- other. And I think that confidence comes from how hard they've worked and how hard they prepared and how much they've sacrificed to get to this point. They believe in each other, and the coaches believe in them in more ways than just football. And I think that's what you see on the field. You watch us play, and we play an exciting brand of football. The guys love playing together. The coaches love watching them play. It's a party." Sanders (24) cele- brates his second- quarter touch- down run with tight end Mike Gesicki. The backup running back finished with 15 yards on six car- ries. Photo by Steve Manuel

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