Penn State Football: Game Balls for Nittany Lions’ loss against Ohio State

This game was about as exciting as it comes … until the second half of the fourth quarter. Penn State Football welcomed Ohio State to Happy Valley for a showdown between two powerhouses. With a little under 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Penn State Nittany Lions picked up a touchdown and the lead over Ohio State, 21-16. However, Treyvon Henderson would score almost immediately for the Buckeyes to make the score 23-21.

Just as the Nittany Lions were about to try to get something going, Sean Clifford fumbled the ball with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. This led to another Buckeyes touchdown, extending their lead to 30-21. Off of a couple of mistakes by Clifford, Ohio State would walk out of Happy Valley with a big victory, 44-31. Here are the game balls for Penn State Football, one for each aspect of the game.

Offense- Parker Washington, WR

Today was indeed the Parker Washington show. With his performance today, Washington was only the second Penn State player in history, behind Jahan Dotson, to have multiple games with over 100 yards against Ohio State.

Arguably, the biggest play for Washington came halfway through the second quarter while Penn State trailed, 10-0. Washington caught a short pass by Sean Clifford and ran it for a 58-yard touchdown. He broke two tackles in the process before he was off to the house.

His touchdown brought Penn State back into the game and changed the game’s momentum. Washington finished the day with an astonishing 11 receptions for 179 yards and picked up one touchdown in the process.

Defense- Abdul Carter, LB

On a pretty decent day for the defense, Abdul Carter showed up and showed out. Prior to the second half of the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions’ defense had a dominant showing against the No. 2 ranked Buckeyes.

One of the bigger plays for the Penn State defense during the game came when Carter hit a big sack on Ohio State’s quarterback–CJ Stroud–knocking him back out of field goal range to end the second half. In the game, Carter had just four total tackles, off of three solos and one assist, and also had one sack to finish the game but made his presence felt all over the field.

Special Teams- Barney Amor, P

The special teams unit for Penn State was rather quiet today. Nobody really stood out in a big way and this wasn’t an easy decision to make. However, Barney Amor more than played his part in today’s game against Ohio State from the punting side of things.

Amor, who had three punts today, punted for a total of 134 yards and averaged a total of 44.7 yards per punt. He picked up one touchback and had a long of 59 yards. Amor continued to show off the power in his leg by sending those punts booming down the field.