Penn State Football: Game Balls for the Nittany Lions’ win over Northwestern

On a rainy Saturday afternoon in Happy Valley, the Penn State Nittany Lions defeated Northwestern 17-7.

This was not a pretty game, at all. It featured a lot of turnovers by both teams, and some sloppy plays. However, the Nittany Lions were still able to get the job done.

The Wildcats were able to heat up in the second half and made the game close in the early part of the fourth quarter when they got the ball inside the 5-yard-line about to score a touchdown. However, Penn State was able to pick up a massive goal-line stop.

Penn State was able to put Northwestern away and pick up the victory, 17-7. Although it wasn’t a pretty game, like every week we have game balls to give out to one team member in each of the three main parts of the game.

Offense- Kaytron Allen (RB)

Kaytron Allen didn’t see a snap for the first half of the game. Come the second half, due to Nick Singleton’s two fumbles, and Keyvone Lee’s fumble in the first half, Allen was pretty much the entire Penn State running game and he did a great job, until late in the fourth quarter.

With less than seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Allen fumbled the ball. Thankfully this didn’t amount to anything for the Northwestern offense. Allen did a good job at putting the entire offense on his back in the second half. Allen also essentially won Penn State the game when he picked up a first down on a massive fourth down late in the fourth quarter

Allen finished the game with a massive 21 carries, for 89 yards. He averaged 4 yards per carry and proved to be a massive part of the Nittany Lions’ victory. From not playing at all in the first half to getting 20 carries and leading the team’s rushing attack in the second half, he deserves this game ball.

Defense- Nick Tarburton (DE)

What a game on defense by the whole team, and specifically by Nick Tarburton. In the middle of the second quarter, Tarburton picked up a fumble recovery off of a fumbled snap. This led to a Nittany Lions touchdown, their second (and last one) on the day.

At the end of the second quarter, Tarburton continued his great game when he strip-sacked the Wildcats quarterback, causing a fumble to be recovered by Curtis Jacobs. The defense did a great job today, overall.

Alongside Tarburton, Hakeem Beamon and Tig Brown also picked up massive, and potentially game-saving plays. Tarburton finished the game with one sack, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble, and one fumble return. He truly did a great job at contributing to the Penn State victory from the defensive side of the ball.

Special Teams- Barney Amor  (P)

Barney Amor impressed everyone with his leg as he always does. Starting off right away in the first quarter, Amor was able to kick a punt for 47 yards, all the way down to Northwestern’s 8-yard-line. The Wildcats weren’t able to capitalize on this and quickly punted the ball right back to the Nittany Lions.

Amor went on to punt the ball five times. Over the course of those five times, Amor tallied 200 yards in total, averaging 40 yards a punt, and kicking it inside the 20, four out of the five punts. His long on the day was 48 and he played a big part in Penn State’s special teams unit and helped lead Penn State to victory with his leg.