No. 8 Penn State shuts out Rutgers

When James Franklin became Penn State’s head coach three years ago, he claimed not only that he meant to “Dominate the State, ” in recruiting, but that the state included the region, neighboring Maryland and DE and NY and, especially, New Jersey. At least he smiled, though.

Penn State running back Miles Sanders (24) fumbles the opening kickoff Saturday at Rutgers. We, as fans, want nothing more than you guys to kick the crap out of Penn State and to rush the field.

Needing to win their final two games in order to have a chance to play for a Big Ten championship, Penn State will hit the road in hopes of avoiding a big upset in East Division play.

First, though, they’ll need a healthy Barkley.

“And our focus”, he added, “as an organization, coaching staff, old players, young players, is to make sure that our seniors go and have hopefully one last positive night in High Point Solutions Stadium”.

Three times, the Nittany Lions reached the red zone, but came away with only six points. That set up a touchdown run from Saquan Barkley and Penn State led 16-0.

Despite the scare, Penn State head coach James Franklin said that Barkley is “fine” in his postgame press conference.

“It’s been quite a roller coaster”, said Muller, who will be making his 48th consecutive start Saturday night.

Rutgers’ defense showed some promise in the first half, coming up with four stops in the red zone.

This is a homecoming week in a way for Penn State as it heads to New Jersey to take on Rutgers. Michigan State showed Saturday that it still had something in the tank despite a terrible season and Penn State needs a healthy Barkley.

The Nittany Lions have forged a bond, a trust, that only comes from being in the trenches with fellow teammates. The defense completely overwhelmed Rutgers’ tattered offense, holding it to under 100 yards.

Penn State’s Andre Robinson scored on a 2-yard sweep around left end, putting the Nittany Lions ahead 25-0 with 3:23 left in the third quarter. “I’m encouraged by a lot of that” Ash said after Rutgers’ loss to Michigan State.

By this point, most of the announced crowd of 51,366 had left as rain – and later snow- fell, and Penn State fans represented the majority of those who remained. Three led to field goals by Davis, while the Knights held the Lions on fourth-and-1 from the 2 as McSorley had to jump for a high snap and threw incomplete.

The Lions struggled to finish drives in the first half. Like the bad weather, the Penn State defense was relentless.

The Knights’ deepest penetration in the first half was to the Penn State 44. McGovern was active in pre-game warmups but ceded the starting job to fifth-year senior Derek Dowrey. Ash changed his tune Thursday, saying Rescigno was banged-up early in that game and that’s why he wasn’t given the green light to run.

The Lions got off to a awful start when Miles Sanders muffed the opening kickoff, then kicked the football forward, where it was recovered by defensive back K.J. Gray at the Penn State 19.

Linemen Brendan Mahon and Paris Palmer, defensive end Ryan Buccholz, linebacker Jake Cooper (an Archbishop Wood graduate) and punter/holder Chris Gulla did not make the trip. He sat out the loss to Minnesota on October 22 because of an undisclosed injury, and then played only on special teams against IN because Ash said he hadn’t had enough practice reps at RB that week to be effective on offense.