Pitt is recognized as a program on the rise, and that chafes Penn State people who long for the days when their team was relevant for the right reasons. In a return to the storied rivalry on Saturday, it was just the opposite.
Advertisement
RB Saquon Barkley, Penn State: Rushed for 85 yards and four touchdowns, and added a 40-yard touchdown reception in the most prolific scoring game for the Nittany Lions since 2002.
None of them will put on a helmet when the teams play their 97th game since 1893. Penn State leads the overall series 50-43-4. I want to make sure (his players) don’t do the same. Pitt’s offense seemed about as bland as it could get and whether Whitehead is out there or not this weekend, I think that you’ll see a much more complex style when the Panthers have the ball. “As soon as I caught the ball, I heard the crowd scream and I didn’t even know where I was”. “I think it was a huge statement, especially for our guys and whole team, it fired everybody up”.
“It was a back-and-forth slugfest, really”. As far as you are concerned, how important is it that a Pitt-Penn State game is played every season? Irv’s gotta go make a play on it. “He was another hero”. But Hamilton dropped a potential go-ahead deep pass from McSorley early in the drive, the first of two costly mistakes with the game on the line.
When asked about his views on his outing, McSorley said simply that he had a good start, but not a great one.
Pitt finished with 341 yards on the ground as the offensive line opened gaping holes all afternoon. Markell Jones will try to become the first Purdue player to have back-to-back 100-yard rushing games since 2012 when the Boilermakers host Cincinnati. “There’s still a lot of things we need to improve”. “The more and more we do it, the better we’ll get”.
James Conner led the charge by gaining 118 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown.
Redshirt senior defensive end Ejuan Price and the rest of the Panther defense helped build their team’s initial cushion by pressuring McSorley often, forcing him to fumble three times. “None of this would have been possible without the job by our offensive linemen”. Penn State was in it until the last minute of the game until McSorley lofted a ball into the end zone between two Nittany Lions receivers, but Ryan Lewis was there to haul in the interception and seal the victory for Pitt.
Penn State head coach James Franklin celebrates a Penn State touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016. As I predicted, he made a big impression returning kicks, taking a fourth-quarter kickoff 84 yards to Penn State’s 10 yardline.
On Friday night, alumni of Penn State rallied at the Hard Rock Cafe in Pittsburgh. Scott Orndoff and Jester Weah have combined for 116 receiving yards and one touchdown while Quadree Henderson has four receptions.
Pitt was able to string together big drives without the passing game by staying out of third-and-long situations.
The game started to look like a blowout, but Penn State scored a touchdown on a Barkley 1-yard score in the final minutes of the second quarter to pull back into the game at 28-14. Narduzzi knows the Nittany Lions from his seven years as Michigan State’s defensive coordinator, where he went 3-2 against them. But McSorley was sacked on third down and the visitors had to settle for Tyler Davis’ 38-yard field goal.
Our running update from the Nittany Lions’ game vs. the Panthers at Heinz Field.
Advertisement
Trailing 35-28, the Lions found themselves with a chance to tie after former St. Joseph’s Prep star John Reid recovered Conner’s fumble at the Pitt 11 early in the fourth quarter.
