By BILL ALBRIGHT
EasternPAFootball Senior Writer
STATE COLLEGE — When Pittsburgh made its way to Beaver Stadium Saturday afternoon, the Penn State Nittany Lions were listed as favorites by as many as 17-20 points depending on which college football “buff” you listened to. However, the Panthers had other ideas.
After Mother Nature supplied the rain and lightning in the area for a 50-minute weather delay, the Panthers provided the thunder as they pushed the favored Lions to the limit before the ‘Nits held off their neighbors from Western Pennsylvania for a hard-fought 17-10 win.
“I appreciate everyone coming out and covering Penn State football. We appreciate you guys weathering the early weather,” said PSU head coach James Franklin. “Obviously overall, happy to get the win against a good football team. Give those guys a bunch of credit, a good football team. They obviously had a plan and they did a really good job of executing that plan.”
While his team was winning the war of the ‘Cats, Franklin pointed out several significant happenings in the win.
“A couple of things I think were huge in the game,” said Franklin. “Some things that jump out from the game. Journey Brown with the 85-yard run, the second-longest, non-scoring run in Penn State history. Jordan Stout, with a 57-yard field goal that breaks the record from 1975 by Chris Barr, who went to my high school. Stout became the first Penn State kicker since 2008 to have two or more field goals over 50-yards since Kevin Kelly, who also went to my high school. Journey Brown had his first career 100-yard game which is awesome. I thought Blake Gillikin was huge. Six of his seven punts were within the 20-yard line which put them in long field positions and put our defense in really good positions. But we have to get off the field and keep that field position. We need to be a little bit more consistent.”
After several changes of possession, the Lions behind big defensive plays from Micah Parsons took over on their own 2-yard line.
Journey Brown promptly ripped off an 85-yard run and two plays later, Devyn Ford went in from one yard out for the touchdown. Jake Pinegar’s PAT made it 7-0 Nittany Lions with 4:31 left in the first period.
Much the same as at the outset of the game, the two teams took turns throwing punches at each other until the Panthers put together a drive that resulted in their only touchdown. Alex Kessman’s PAT deadlocked the two teams at 7-all.
Again the Lions had more than their share of problems sustaining any type of ground game and with solid execution, the Panthers moved the ball down the field until Kessman drilled a 24-yard field goal to give the Panthers their only lead of the game at 10-7.
Making some noise just before halftime, the Lion drive bogged down. On the strong leg of Jordan Stout the ‘Nits tied the game at halftime with a 57-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.
Not only did Stout tie the game with his 3-pointer, he also put his name into the Lion record books with the longest field goal in Penn State history.
Obviously aroused by the Panthers hanging around, the Lions took the second-half kickoff and put together a couple of big plays to appear to be marching toward the end zone. However, an apparent long pass from Clifford to Jahan Dotson was ruled incomplete, putting the brakes on the drive.
If you were waiting for an old-fashioned PSU drive, Clifford and company answered the call on their next possession. Mixing the pass and run, the Lions marched 88 yards on 13 plays, Noah Cain capping the drive with a 13-yard jaunt to paydirt. With 5:50 left in before the turn for home, the Lions had regained the lead at 17-10.
Feeding off the momentum of the TD drive, the Lion defense shut down the Panthers offensive attemptsfor the most part until the final minutes of the game provided a numer of anxious moments for the ‘Nits.
Again the two teams went back to trading punches for the next 12 minutes with the Lions still hanging onto the 7-point lead.
Then came the frantic drive for the Panthers as they marched to a first-and-goal on the Lion 1-yard line on the strength of a 29-yard completion from quarterback Kenny Pickett to Taysir Mack.
Following the big completion and with their lead in jeopardy, the Lions dialed up their goal-line defense and behind the strong efforts of Garrett Taylor, Jesse Luketa plus two quarterback hurries forced by Cam Brown, it became a fourth-and-goal situation for Pitt.
After watching his offense produce absolutely nothing in three tries, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi called on placekicker Kessman. Fortunately for the Lions, Kessman’s kick was no good and the Lions found themselves clinging to the 7-point lead with five minutes left in the game.
Unable to move the chains, the Lions punted to the Panthers on the Pitt 16.
With the help of four completions from Pickett to Mack covering 65 yards, the Panthers were again threatening to score at the PSU 26-yard line. However, under pressure from the Lion defense, Pickett misfired on four of his final five attempts and the Lions were able to run out the clock, put the nailbiting 7-point verdict in the books as a Nittany Lion “W”.
“Obviously at the one-yard line it’s impressive, getting a stop like that is hard to do,” said Franklin. “When you’re able to stop someone at the one-yard line, get them moving backward and then obviously miss the field goal, that is significant in the game. The decision they made was making sure they get points. They started at the one-yard line and were going backward. If they get points at that time then the next time they get the ball, a touchdown wins the game for them rather than tie. It’s hard for me to sit here and say exactly what he was thinking but the touchdown would have given them the win. They had confidence in their defense that they would stop us and get back on the field.”
Jan Johnson explained the mindset of the Penn State defense while facing the possible Pitt score.
“We had a chance to meet on the sideline right there and were talking about that we’re not going to let them score, said Johnson. “We’re going to do everything we can to prevent a touchdown. We got after the quarterback and made him uncomfortable and he was unable to throw the ball well. Big run stops by Garret Taylor and Jesse Luketa. Overall, we accomplished what we wanted to do there.”
Now off to a 3-0 start, the Lions are faced with a bye week. Following that they begin Big 10 play by going to Maryland (Friday, September 27, for an 8 p.m. contest with the Terrapins before returning to the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium on Saturday, October 5 for another Big 10 opponent in Purdue. Kickoff for the game with the Boilermakers is set for High Noon.
Penn State Individual leaders:
Rushing: Journey Brown 10-109, Noah Cain 6-40, 1 TD; Devyn Ford 5-9, 1 TD.
Passing: Sean Clifford 14-30, 222 yards.
Receiving: K.J. Hamler 3-68, Ricky Slade 2-42, Justin Shorter 2-29, Jahan Dotson 2-21.
Defense: Micah Parsons 7-2-9, Garrett Taylor 6-1-7, Cam Brown 3-4-7. Sacks: Brown 1, Jan Johnson 1, Shaka Toney 1.
Pitt Individual Leaders:
Rushing: Shocky Jacques-Louis 1-9, Vincent Davis 4-6, 1 TD.
Passing: Kenny Pickett 35-51, 372 yards.
Receiving: Taysir Mack 17-125, A. J. Davis 7-94 Maurice Ffrench 8-43.
Defense: Paris Ford 6-5-11, Jalen Twyman 3-3-6, Damar Hamlin 5-2-7. Sacks: Twyman 1, Phil Campbell 1, Elias Reynolds 1.
