Bowl Wrap Up

Spoiler alert: the Penn State Nittany Lions are officially your 2014 Pinstripe Bowl Champions!  In a hard fought battle that went into overtime and included a lot more offensive production than anyone could have predicted, Penn State managed to squeak out a 31-30 win on the arm of Christian Hackenberg and the leg of Sam Ficken.  As anticipated, the crowd skewed heavily in favor of the blue and white and if ever so briefly, transformed Yankee Stadium into Beaver Stadium.  Those in attendance were treated to a tremendous contest which, along with the opener in Ireland against Central Florida, provided signature wins in exotic locations at the bookends of a season that was equal parts frustrating and satisfying.  In the end, the players and coaches flipped a metaphorical middle finger to the NCAA by doing the only thing they could do… they won.  Over the past 3 years they won in the classroom with exceptional graduation rates, they won in the community with record breaking efforts at Lift for Life, and most importantly, they won on the field compiling a 22-15 record across 3 winning seasons capped off with wins in all 3 season finales: 1 at home, 1 on the road, and 1 in a bowl game.  More importantly, they gave themselves a springboard towards a VERY exciting 2015 season.  It was glorious, so let's get to what happened.

As the game kicked off, and through the first quarter, I felt a strange sensation rush over me.  The entire bowl experience just seemed perfect.  Two vintage teams playing in an historic venue.  A place where the Yankees (much like the Paterno-led teams of yore) were as famous for their clean cut image and lack of facial hair as they were for their championships and hall of fame players.  Northeast football and doing things "the right way" were on full display and I began to feel as if I would be content with any outcome, win or lose… almost.  Nevertheless, there was suddenly no animosity, just respect.  And so, I felt safe to just sit back, relax, and if only for this game, enjoy the purity that is supposed to be college sport.

The first quarter went about as well as Penn State fans could have reasonably hoped.  The offense showed it could move the ball with Hackenberg throwing for 158 yds including a highlight worthy pass to Chris Godwin who made a defender miss and took it 72 yds for the first TD of the game.  Godwin would end the day with his first ever 100+ yd performance.  Meanwhile, the running game struggled as expected.  One group no one expected to struggle, however, was the Penn State defense.  Everyone knew about Boston College's explosive rushing attack, but in a classic match up of unstoppable force meets immovable object, the unstoppable force won convincingly.  In particular, the Golden Eagles hit on two big running plays, one of which went for a TD.  Thankfully, that was where the scoring stopped and the quarter would end tied at 7 a piece.

Alas, this is where things started to go horribly wrong.  First, Miles Deiffenbach, only recently back from injury, was seen on the sideline being worked on by multiple trainers.  Although he tried to walk off his injuries, eventually he was ruled out for the remainder of his final collegiate game.  Then, to top things off, Hackenberg bobbled a snap from Angelo Mangiro and turned the ball over.  Right around this time I began to lose track of how many times Matt Millen kept saying some variation of “that one’s on Hackenberg.”  Indeed, Hack was getting flustered and everyone knew it.  Lucky for him, both defenses buckled down and the teams combined for four straight 3 and outs.  On one of the resulting punts, Penn State’s Brad Bars was rather blatantly blocked in the back, and that illegal block allowed the Boston College return man to gain significant yardage.  However, there was no flag on the play.  It was an objectively bad no-call by the officials.  An avalanche of boos descended upon the referees, demonstrating to anyone who didn't already know just how one-sided this crowd really was.  The announcer would come to call the scene “Happy Valley East.”

The second half started out a lot like the 2nd quarter.  Boston College’s QB Tyler Murphy continued his impressive day with a methodical drive down the field that culminated in a rather nice TD pass.  Then he took it 40 yds by himself for another TD on their very next possession – a possession coincidentally set up by the second bobbled snap and turnover of the night from Penn State’s QB.  That’s when Christian Hackenberg, who had ironically been the cause of nearly all the offensive miscues in the first half, seemed to wake up and remember - he’s Christian freaking Hackenberg!  On Penn State's next drive, he completed a 32 yd pass to Geno Lewis to go along with a 15 yd facemask penalty for a 47 yd play.  Then Lewis capped off the drive by reeling in a circus catch in the endzone as the quarter came to a close.  Heading into the final period, we suddenly had a game again.

At the start of the 4th quarter, the teams exchanged a few punts before RB Akeel Lynch found a hole and popped off a huge 35 yd run that looked like a TD to anyone with eyes.  But the officials didn't see enough to award the TD and added insult to injury when they flagged OG Brian Gaia for a very suspect personal foul, taking the Nittany Lions from the 1 yd line to the 16 yd line.  It was too late, though.  Hackenberg had his groove back and nothing was going to stop him now.  He drilled an absolute strike to Daesean Hamilton for a TD!  Now we were all tied up at 21.

Skeptical officiating continued but this time it favored Penn State, forcing Boston College to kick a 20 yd FG and once again take the lead.  With 2:05 left on the clock and only 1 timeout, Hackenberg proceeded to complete 5 straight passes to 3 different targets, then scrambled 6 yds to set up a 45 yd FG attempt by none other than Sam Ficken.  As if there was any doubt, Mr Automatic effortlessly sailed it through the uprights.  This one would be decided in overtime.

Boston College got the ball first and on their third play, Tyler Murphy found WR Dave Dudeck, who broke a few tackles and scored on his first catch of the game.  Remembering what I wrote in my prediction post about BC’s kickers, I literally said out loud, “watch them miss this extra point”… 

NO GOOD!

Now it was Penn State’s turn.  Never ones to make it easy on themselves, they started things off with a false start to make it 1st and 15.  On 3rd down Jesse James made a short catch on the outside and found his 6’7” frame starring down a poor defensive back.  Both of them knew how this would end; 1st down and more.  On the subsequent 3rd down, Hackenberg found Kyle Carter in the back corner of the endzone for the beleaguered QB’s school record 4th TD pass in a bowl game.  Even more impressive, all 4 TDs were delivered to different receivers.  But it wasn't over yet.

In my prediction, I was purposefully vague about how the game would end.  Everyone was calling for Sam Ficken to hit a game winning FG, but I knew the football gods had something else in store for him.  So I simply wrote, “he will be the last player to score.”  Never have my words been more prophetic.  The once raucous crowd came to a complete hush as the senior co-captain lined up for a routine extra point that was anything but routine…

IT’S GOOD!

Yes, the “storybook” career of Sam Ficken is a wonderful tale, one which I have already attempted to tell.  But it would seem that others have decided to tell this chapter much better than I can.  So check out their work if you’re interested.  However, what I will say is that Ficken’s story provides an incredible life lesson for us all.  It is only because his worst game was so historically bad that his best game could be this epically triumphant.  Without those hard times, Ficken may have become just another throw-away kicker lost to history, instead of a team captain who inspired a school.  In life, it is important to persevere and know that it will get better.  Who knows, you may even grow to become a hero.  Congratulations Ficken!

Congratulations also go out to your game MVP, Christian Hackenberg.  All told, he went 34 of 40 for 371 yds and 4 TDs, all Penn State bowl records.  And while people like the announcer working with Matt Millen spent almost the entire first half questioning Hack's production this year, the sophomore was putting on a clinic, not unlike what he did against heavily favored Wisconsin last year.  It would seem that Hack always saves his best for last.  Given that he might go pro after next season, I can’t even imagine what he has in store for next year’s bowl game.

So how was my first ever bowl prediction?  Well, we won, but I wasn't even close on the final score.  The offense definitely had their best performance since the UCF game like I called.  Hackenberg did break 300 yds passing, but he had 4 TDs instead of just 1.  Lewis and Hamilton broke out in a big way (along with true freshman Chris Godwin); all three receivers had 7 catches and a TD.  And much of that success was due to an offensive line that held together as well as they have all season, even after losing Deiffenbach early.  Defensively, our guys let me down.  Only Jordan Lucas registered a sack and no one got an interception, so I blew it there.  However, my Sam Ficken end-game scenario more than makes up for it!

*Update - we’re essentially halfway through bowl season.  For those participating in the Prime Pick Em Challenge, it looks like “LandotheDrummer” has jumped out to a decent lead while I’m tied for 3rd.  There's still plenty of games to go, though, including 3 today.

That will wrap things up for the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl.  Per usual, life got in the way of this posting on Sunday, so grades will be out tomorrow.  Head on over to my Facebook page to keep up with all things Penn State football.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!