Blue White Illustrated

The best and the rest from the Nittany JUDGMENT P LAYER OF THE GAME Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah did the heavy lifting for the Corn- huskers, carrying the ball 31 times for 116 yards and leaving Penn State's defense exhausted. PLAY OF THE GAME From second-and-goal on the Nebraska 3-yard line, Matt Lehman snatched Matt McGloin's pass, stretched toward the end zone and seemed to break the plane be- fore the ball was knocked loose. Ne- braska recovered the fumble. Upon further replay review, the play stood, despite video evidence suggesting a touchdown might have been the more proper call. BEST RUN On the fourth play of the game, Zach Zwinak found a small hole in the middle of the Nebraska defensive line and outran an entire defense for a 50-yard touchdown. WORST DROP Nebraska's Tim Marlowe completely muffed Alex Butterworth's punt late in the first half, setting up the Nittany Lions with prime field po- sition after Mike Hull recovered the ball at the 31-yard line. BEST SACK Deion Barnes slipped through the Nebraska offensive line and managed to grab – and hold onto – the ever-elusive Taylor Mar- tinez for an 8-yard sack early in the first quarter. COACHSPEAK FUMBLE OR NOT? Bill O'Brien said his staff "felt like [the ball] was over the goal line" on Matt Lehman's fourth-quar- ter fumble. The refer- ees "just didn't feel like they could reverse it," he said. Steve Manuel N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 2 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M Steve Manuel BEST HIT Adrian Amos absolutely hammered Nebraska receiver Jamal Turner coming across the middle on third-and-10 late in the first half. The ball was caught but the hit forced an incompletion. BEST EFFORT With PSU marching to- ward the end zone on its second drive of the game, Nebraska linebacker Alonzo Whaley punched a fumble out of Zwinak's hands and into the arms of teammate Will Compton. WORST CALL How the replay official, upon second look, determined that Lehman had not crossed the plane is simply incomprehensible. Video re- play was implemented to eliminate human error on that type of call. MOST TELLING MOMENT Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini spurned traditional thinking when he accepted a holding call on third-and-short in the first quarter that would have set up a fourth down. Due to Penn State's tendency to go for it, though, the de- cision made sense, but it backfired when McGloin completed the third- and-14 pass to Allen Robinson for a 30-yard gain. – NATE BAUER Lions' loss to the Cornhuskers CALLS PLAYER OF THE GAME Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah helped lead the Cornhuskers to victory, rushing for 116 yards on 31 carries.

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