After almost 16 years off between Penn State and Pitt’s most recent meeting on the football field, only a certain type of game would reach the level of hype and anticipation fostered by the break, luckily both teams obliged with an effort not many will forget.
Advertisement
But that wasn’t easy after this one.
“If you can establish the run game and stop someone from running the ball, and they had less than 100 yards, you’ll win all day with that”. The last time these teams played, he was five.
It was, of course, hardly all on Hamilton. The offense for the Nittany Lions put up 39 points on five Barkley touchdowns and a Davis field goal. Penn State had just 354 yards of offense in the win, but the defense held Kent to 279 yards and forced three turnovers. It’s an each-way bet whether this would have been a touchdown – but at the very least it would have taken the pressure off. Keep in mind that all Penn State needed was a field goal to force overtime. McSorley fumbled again and this time Jordan Whitehead recovered. He snagged the ball with one hand and set up Barkley with his fourth score of the game. “We all went up to him and told him that it doesn’t”.
“We just have to make sure we have our composure and we have our poise when we go out and play hard and execute”, Penn State head coach James Franklin said earlier this week via Penn Live. “That was probably the biggest difference in the game”.
“We had some guys on the field that aren’t typically on the field and we ran a wrong route”, coach James Franklin said. Two plays later, he tried to go for the lead and dialed up another deep ball against Lewis, who instead made the game-clinching. “I’ve gotta run faster”.
“It means a little more that I know my dad played there”, Apke said. Everybody needs to be held accountable on that play. The athletic department’s preference would be to play all three nonconference games in a given season at Beaver Stadium, and away games against Virginia Tech (2020), Auburn (2022) and West Virginia (2024), respectively, virtually eliminate a game at Pittsburgh as a possibility in those seasons. Sophomore Barkley ran for 105 yards on 22 carries – the sixth time he has topped the 100-yard mark in his brief career – but he was able to break off only two runs of 10 yards or more.
Saturday marks the renewal of the Pitt-Penn State football rivalry that has been dormant for 16 years.
The Panthers didn’t allow that play to shake them, however, as they continued to build their lead before halftime. “This was our real offense”. However, Pitt was able to do whatever they wanted on offense. Pitt tight end Scott Orndoff, a Waynesburg graduate, catches a first-half touchdown pass Saturday between Penn State safety Marcus Allen (2) and cornerback Christian Campbell.
Who happened to be Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett. Pitt running back James Conner, who at this point last season was approaching a cancer diagnosins, got to stand at the podium after a 117-yard game with his offensive line behind him and take a victory lap. This grade is so bad because it should be, but it’s saved from being a rung lower because the unit improved enough by the end of the game that Penn State could have won.
But corners Haley, Campbell, Reid and Oruwariye helped limit running plays when they could. “We will fight to the end”. It’s encouraging to see that, while we have many areas to work on, special teams isn’t going to be one of them.
Even though the Panthers jumped out to a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter, it took a Ryan Lewis interception in the end zone in the final minute of the game to preserve the win as Penn State was driving for a potential game-tying or winning score.
Advertisement
Penn State’s Saquon Barkley (26) leaps past Kent State’s Nate Holley (18) during the second half of an NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016.
