Penn State football players of the game against Rutgers
By Marty Leap
The Penn State football team is now 8-2 on the season after cruising to a 35-6 victory over Rutgers on Saturday afternoon
On Saturday afternoon, the Penn State football team slept-walked through the first quarter. As a result, they trailed Rutgers 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. However, after Rutgers hit a field goal to take a 6-0 lead with 7:45 remaining in the second quarter Penn State would dominate the rest of the game.
Following the Scarlet Knights’ second field goal, the Nittany Lions held Rutgers to 34 yards of offense and five three-and-outs until a garbage time drive at the end of the game. Additionally, Penn State reeled off 35 unanswered points as they cruised to a 35-6 victory and an 8-2 record. After suffering back-to-back heartbreaking losses and starting sluggishly on Saturday, it was great to see the Nittany Lions respond to adversity the way they did.
Here are Penn State’s players of the game from their victory over Rutgers.
Offense – Quarterback Trace McSorley
A strong argument can be made here for Saquon Barkley. While the stat sheet was not great for Barkley on Saturday – minus two rushing touchdowns that tied him with Curtis Enis for the second most in school history – he made everything possible for the Nittany Lions on offense.
That said, Trace McSorley was excellent on Saturday. The redshirt junior signal caller finished the game 16/21 for 214 yards, two touchdowns, and two of his five incompletions were drops. McSorley was also the team’s leading rusher using his legs to gain 44 yards and a rushing touchdown.
On throws between the numbers he was 10/11 for 136 yards and a touchdow. His lone incompletion between the numbers was a drop and he had a passer rating of 149.3 on these throws.
Trace McSorley now has 68 career touchdowns, which is the most in the history of Penn State football. McSorley continues to be insanely underappreciated by many Penn State fans. Nothing against Tommy Stevens, but the notion he should take meaningful snaps away from McSorley is ridiculous.
Honorable mention: RB Saquon Barkley, WR Juwan Johnson
Defense – Linebacker Jason Cabinda
In the penultimate home game of his Nittany Lion career, senior linebacker Jason Cabinda played one of his best games of the season. In the fourth and final game of his career against his home state Scarlet Knights, the Garden State product balled out.
Cabinda led an excellent Nittany Lion defense effort by recording 11 tackles, a tackle for a loss, a quarterback hurry, and he also had a pass break up. Also, it was Cabinda that broke the huddle for the Nittany Lion defense on Saturday and all day long helped to have the defense lined up in a position to succeed.
Honorable mention: LB Brandon Smith, S Ayron Monroe
Special teams – Punter Blake Gillikin
Saturday was yet another punting clinic from sophomore Blake Gillikin. Gillikin punted five times on Saturday afternoon and averaged 40.6 yards per kick. He had three punts downed inside the 20-yard line, two of which were downed inside the 10-yard line, and a fourth that went for a touchback.
While a touchback is not always a good thing, it is when facing a return man like Rutgers’ Janarion Grant. A strong argument can be made that Grant is the most dangerous return man in the Big Ten and possibly the FBS. Well, he returned just one punt on Saturday and Gillikin was a big reason why.
Honorable mention: CB Lamont Wade, S Garrett Taylor
Next: Penn State dominates final three quarters vs Rutgers
That will do it for this week. The Nittany Lions return to action next Saturday at Beaver Stadium when they host 4-6 Nebraska in their 2017 home finale. A kick-off time for their senior day tilt has not yet been announced.