Football has frequently been called a game of inches. Some players have the kind of skills that get you those extra inches over and over again. These game-changers are all eventually funneled into the NFL, where only 1,500 of them get to compete in a typical season. But during their NCAA careers, when competing with 10,000 other athletes, one or two special players can completely transform a game. A game-changer—when your team has one, Saturdays are a joy because you know you have a shot in every game. When your opponent has one, the game feels inherently unfair, with every key play seemingly converted by their star, often by just a few inches.
A game-changer—when your team has one, Saturdays are a joy because you know you have a shot in every game. When your opponent has one, the game feels inherently unfair, with every key play seemingly converted by their star, often by just a few inches.
I developed this “theory” back in 2004 when Braylon Edwards made Chad Henne look like an All-American by snagging jump ball after jump ball for Michigan, leading them to a Rose Bowl game. He won multiple games for the Wolverines single-handedly.
Then, Ohio State decided to put game-changer after game-changer at the QB position (Troy Smith, Terrelle Pryor, Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett). It’s worked out pretty well for them the past decade. Thinking back to our tight losses to them in 2012 (Miller) and 2014 (Barrett), it’s easy to cite those individual performances as reason for Buckeye victories.
Penn State, which certainly has numerous excuses for its tepid results the past fifteen years, must point to a shortage of game-changers as a main culprit. Michael Robinson was one, but he either didn’t have adequate supporting talent or adequate coaching talent behind him (or both) to emerge before his senior season. I hoped that Derrick Williams would fulfill this function for the Lions, but he ended up being just a good college player. Silas Redd showed signs of promise in his first two seasons and may have blossomed in Bill O’Brien’s run-first system in 2012. He, however, took his business to Los Angeles, where he received as many touches in his junior and senior season combined as he did during his sophomore campaign in Happy Valley.
The best example of a game-changer that Penn State has had since Larry Johnson’s 2002 season was Allen Robinson.
Robinson emerged as a redshirt freshman star in 2012 in O’Brien’s pro system but didn’t have a quintessential “game-changer” appearance that year. His performance versus Northwestern came close, when he caught 9 balls for 85 yards and 2 TDs in a 39-28 win over the No. 24 Wildcats. Like Derrick Williams in 2005 though, he was one of many weapons in a balanced offensive attack.
Robinson’s 2013 season though, with a true freshman QB at the helm of the offense, is the perfect example of a game-changer. And it started the very first week.
Suspended for the 1st half of the season opener at Syracuse, Robinson blew up in the 2nd half and ignited a PSU offense that led just 6-3 at the break. Robinson’s 6 catches for 133 yards and 1 TD in one half were clearly the difference between victory and defeat that week.
While his two clutch catches on the final drive against Michigan will forever live in Nittany Lion lore, Robinson was largely absent in the 4OT win against the Wolverines. This wasn’t a quintessential “game-changer” type of game, but his presence on that all-important drive to put the game in OT was remarkable. However, his play that season against Illinois (11 catches for 165 yards in a 23-17 OT win) and Wisconsin (8 for 122 yards in a 31-24 road win) certainly qualify as game-changing.
To put it bluntly, Penn State in 2013 probably owes at least 3 (if not 4) victories solely to one player. That is what a game-changer does.
Which leads us to a discussion of the 2016 Nittany Lions. Is there a player on the PSU roster who could single-handedly win us 3 or 4 games? Or could there be two such players?
Stay tuned for part two of this story, which will be published Wednesday.
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