Godwin caught six passes for 133 yards, becoming Penn State’s career leader in bowl receiving yards (273), one more than Bobby Engram.
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For as much turmoil that surrounded the UGA program with the Nick Chubb injury, the firing of Mark Richt, the commitment of Jacob Eason, the Georgia Bulldogs finished their 2015 season at 10-3 and have a favorable chance of finishing in the AP Top 25. Despite a makeshift coaching staff – Georgia used different offensive and defensive coordinators – the Bulldogs turned in one of their most complete performances since September.
Even with Hackenberg getting off to a strong start – he was 8 for 14 with 139 passing yards before he left the game with what Franklin called a sprained shoulder – Penn State couldn’t find the end zone.
Hackenberg seemed to land awkwardly on his throwing shoulder early in the second quarter when he scrambled and was tackled by linebacker Roquan Smith.
He headed to the locker room after an incompletion and returned for the second half in street clothes.
It helped that Penn State (7-6) played more than half the game without star quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
“It’s been an awesome ride”, Hackenberg said of his Penn State career. “It means more to me than I ever thought it would”, the injured quarterback stated after the game. My family and I talked about it and we felt this was the best decision for me. “I know right now it’s just a win, but 20 years from now I can look back at and say ‘we are some of the few seniors that were able to accomplish that'”. The X-rays were negative, coach James Franklin said, and Hackenberg said he didn’t think the injury was too serious. “We were trying to run the stretch play on offense versus their odd-front defense, cover guys up, get up in there, weren’t able to get Saquon going”, Franklin said.
McSorley completed 14 of 27 passes for 142 yards with two touchdowns and gave Penn State fans a glimpse of the post-Hackenberg era.
The Bulldogs wound down the clock with a 10-play, 48-yard drive that whittled the clock to a minute and 52 seconds for the Nittany Lions’ offense to use.
Trace McSorley, Penn State’s backup quarterback who played the remainder of Saturday’s game, was taken by surprise when the CDT told him of the announcement, and asked for his reaction.
Collins, who has rushed for over 1,000 yards each of the last three seasons, indicated after the game he hadn’t decided whether to return for his senior year or enter the National Football League draft.
The Nittany Lions lost to the Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 24-17 in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Arkansas’ Brandon Allen was 20 of 26 for 315 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Cook had been Kansas State’s second-leading receiver during the regular season while also backing up quarterback Joe Hubener.
He also had 6.5 sacks this season.
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A RECORD FOR GODWIN: Sophomore receiver Chris Godwin capped a breakthrough season with another huge bowl game. Malcolm Mitchell, the best football playing children’s writer in the world, faked a block and broke perfectly to get wide open for the easy 44 yard touchdown strike.
