Penn State Review #10: Northwestern

Today was a tough one to swallow as the Lions fell on last second field goal. A situation that could have been avoided.

Review

Penn State and Northwestern both got off to slow starts. A scoreless 1st quarter only resulted in a Northwestern missed field goal and the injury to their starting QB. For Penn State, Hackenberg and the offense we’re going no where. In the second quarter, Wildcats back up QB Zack Oliver hit Christian Jones in the middle of the end zone for a 14 yard TD. Later in the quarter, Zack Oliver scored on a 1 yard run, but the PAT was no good. 13-0 Northwestern at this point. On Penn State’s following drive, Hackenberg found Barkley on a 32 yard pass, later in the drive hit Godwin for 21 and the drive was capped off by a 7 yard direct snap to Barkley for the score. It only took Northwestern 1 play to answer as Solomon Vault returned the kickoff 96 yards for a score. 20-7 at the half. After four punts and another missed field goal by Northwestern, Penn State was given a gift. On 4th down, punter Chris Gulla was hit and got the roughing the punter call. On the next play, Hackenberg ran for 7 yards then got 15 more on an unnecessary roughness call. Two plays later, on a double reverse that was fumbled, Geno Lewis hit Hamilton on a 32 yard touchdown pass.  20-14 at this point. Zack Oliver was picked off by Cabinda, but the following Penn State drive led to nothing. Early in the 4th, Penn State put a great drive together and scored on a 13 yard Barkley direct snap to take the lead. After the defense got a quick three and out, PennState drove again, but Hackenberg was picked off on the 33 so the Lions could not score anymore points. The defense held again, but the clock management by Penn State was about to get ugly. On 3rd and 1, deep in Northwestern territory, Penn State elected to run a direct snap to Barkley that got stood up. PennState was forced to punt and Northwestern marched down the field after Grant Haley dropped an interception on 2nd down and then  blown coverage on 3rd which resulted in a first down.  Jack Mitchell who missed two earlier field goals,  hit the game winner from 35 yards out with 9 seconds left. Northwestern wins 23-21.

Last Thoughts

Penn State played horrible in the 1st quarter as Hackenberg started 1-10. A horrible kick coverage, gave Northwestern a touchdown right when Penn State grabbed the momentum. Haley could have ended the game if he holds on to the interception and then if he doesn’t blow the coverage on the following play. James Franklin’s clock management was terrible, as he had 3 timeouts and could have used them with 1:40 remaining, instead he waits until there’s only 22 seconds left to call one. If he calls them earlier, Penn State could’ve gotten the ball back with almost a minute left and only needing a field goal. The wildcat worked in the redzone as Barkley scored on it twice,but deep in your on territory with the game on the line on 3rd and 1, I’m not calling it there. Penn State could have easily won this won, but mistakes hurt them terribly. On the bright side, Carl Nassib got another sack as  he now has the Penn State single season sacks record at 15.5. Saquon Barkley had 120 rushing yards and added 52 receiving yards with his two touchdowns.

This was a tough one as we head into the bye week, Northwestern wins 23-21, Penn State is 7-3.