As I mentioned in my Prediction post, ESPN's College Gameday was in town for the Temple v Notre Dame game. The show visits the site of the top college football game each week and has become famous for Lee Corso's "head gear" pick, as well as all the creative signs that fans hold up in the background during the broadcast. Philly proved to be just as snarky with their signs as any college campus. Personally, I had a really great time just being around all the football fans and, thanks to the power of DVR, I still managed to catch the entire game from the beginning (albeit on about a 20 minute delay until halftime). Speaking of the game, let's get to it!
It was a beautiful day in Happy Valley (at least from what I could tell on TV) as the Nittany Lions returned home on Halloween to take on the Fighting Illini of Illinois. An impressive defensive effort led to the team's first shut out in years, while the offense finally came alive in a BIG way! When all was said and done, the contest went in the books as a 39-0 butt-kicking, and Penn State moved to 7-2 with a perfect record at home. A season once thought to be lost is turning more and more positive by the week. Not only is PSU definitely headed to a bowl, but each win moves them up the pecking order towards a more prestigious bowl in a more exotic location. The Lions will look to ride this momentum for one more game, on the road at Northwestern, before they take a much deserved bye week to rest up for the final stretch.
We'll get to Christian Hackenberg's accomplishments a little more on Wednesday, but suffice it to say he had his best game of the season and one of his best games as a Penn Stater. Here's what both Lions247 and the student-run website Onward State had to say about the gunslinger's incredible afternoon.
Now, to really get the link parade going, we'll start with a "link dump" from Black Shoe Diaries, which is a list of interesting links to articles about the game from various sources... so, basically what today's post is turning into. It's a link dump inside a link dump... that's like, link dump inception.
Am I blowing your mind?
Next, we have a nice gallery of photos from the game courtesy of Onward State, to go along with some interesting quotes from the players' post-game Q&A sessions. Anthony Zettel was definitely the most entertaining of the bunch, wearing a hockey mask while fielding questions and acting like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
Of course, what would a wrap up post be without some game summaries? Nothing, that's what! So not only do we have two from BSD, but Onward State chips in yet again and gives their take as well. Here's the basic gist, Penn State played exceptionally well on both sides of the ball (the special teams, however, was quite awful) and they ended up destroying an Illinois team that had surprised and been competitive for most of the season. The best part, though, was the big plays, and boy were there a lot of big plays! We'll focus on 3 for the sake of time. To start the 2nd half, redshirt freshman Koa Farmer, who has spent his career thus far bouncing back and forth between LB and S, showed that his real talent is at kick returner. A little later in the 3rd quarter (and only a few weeks after showing his wheels on 2 TD runs) Christian Hackenberg decided to add a receiving TD to his resume... yes, you read that correctly. But it was the human highlight reel, Saquon Barkley, that really stole the spotlight. Towards the beginning of the 4th quarter, the newly christened "Air Barkley" continued to demonstrate his affinity for hurdling tacklers and making them look silly. Just like Michael "Air" Jordan used to take off from the free-throw line on dunks, Barkley channeled the basketball star, taking off from the 5 yd line and crashing through three defenders on his way to the endzone! It was glorious and absolutely love watching this kid play. He's something special.
Looking back, there was a lot to take away from this game, and almost all of it was positive. Jeff Rice took away 5 things from the game, while Adam Collyer had 44 thoughts. A couple of students who were at the game weighed in with their first-hand observations. Personally, I saw the return of our dominating defense. I saw the fall of our once proud special teams. And I saw an offense that has come to life thanks in no small part to the sensational Barkley, whose incredible play has in turn taken pressure off a passing attack that is finally starting to look how we had envisioned it for so long.
So how did I do with my prediction? Well, I was nowhere near the correct final score and I never would have anticipated the shut out. Chris Godwin did get another TD pass, but Geno Lewis grabbed the other (his second in as many games) not Daesean Hamilton. I also never could have guessed that Christian Hackenberg would collect a receiving TD of his own. Although Barkley performed very well, he had about half the yardage I predicted. Carl Nassib only got 1 sack, not 2, and it was LB Troy Reeder who picked off Wes Lunt, not CB John Reid. All in all, I didn't do so well this week, but when you whoop a team 39-0, who really cares?
That will do it for tonight. I'm still really disappointed that a really great post will never see the light of day. Hopefully all these links were enough to satisfy your appetites and reminisce about an otherwise delightful game. Check back here on Wednesday for the weekly grades. In the meantime, head on over to my Facebook page and give it a like or even a share. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!
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