Penn State Football dominates second half, rolls Rutgers on Senior Day

James Franklin and his staff deserve credit

Like it or not, James Franklin and his staff deserve credit for being able to piece together a lineup this week that was able to come away with a four-possession win over a conference foe that is still vying for bowl eligibility.

Franklin said after the game that between injury and illness, his squad was missing 35 total players against Rutgers.

The offensive line was missing two of its normal starters and had some more guys banged up throughout the game. Landon Tengwall played both tackle spots throughout the game, Eric Wilson played left guard and center, and Juice Scruggs made his first career start at center.

Anthony Whigan started at right guard, his first start since the Wisconsin game, and Bryce Effner made his first career start at left tackle.

The team was without any scholarship quarterbacks at practice on Friday, leaving walk-on Mason Stahl to run the first-team offense in their final day of prep before the game. Then when Sean Clifford went down in the first quarter, Christian Veilleux looked more than prepared to step in and lead the team to a win.

Also noteworthy is the fact that running back John Lovett was unable to play today, and he was one of the Nittany Lions’ two most effective ball carriers for most of the season.

Defensively, the Nittany Lions were missing starting outside linebacker Curtis Jacobs, so Jonathan Sutherland moved up from his usual safety position to play outside linebacker in place of Jacobs.

Sure it was against Rutgers, but if many of you were told before the game that Franklin and his staff would be forced to piece together the offensive line and turn to their backup quarterback early in the game, you probably would have envisioned a repeat of the disaster that was the Illinois game, but that wasn’t the case.