Penn State wasn’t at full strength in its regular-season finale Saturday against visiting Rutgers, but it was healthy enough to pull away for a 27-6 victory over the Scarlet Knights.
With Will Levis filling in for Sean Clifford, who didn’t dress for the game, the Nittany Lions struggled at times on offense, especially through the air. But they got three rushing touchdowns from Journey Brown and had enough firepower to put away a Rutgers team that ranked last in the conference in scoring defense heading into its final game of the season.
The Lions struggled at times on defense, too, as the Scarlet Knights outgained PSU, 383 yards to 333. Those numbers made for three unexpectedly competitive quarters, as Rutgers trailed by only a touchdown after Justin Davidovicz hit his second field goal of the afternoon early in the fourth quarter.
But the Lions didn’t lose their composure. They answered Rutgers’ kick with fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 61 and 44 yards and could easily have had another touchdown but couldn’t punch it in after taking possession deep in Rutgers territory after the Scarlet Knights fumbled a kickoff.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for that program,” coach James Franklin said. “They have given us fits for years. There’ve been games where we’ve played well, but there’ve been battles, too. I think in a lot of ways, we always get Rutgers’ best. I think a lot of it is that there’s a lot of familiarity with the two programs in terms of recruiting, in terms of region and all those types of things. They played well tonight. We didn’t play as well as we could have, but I know we’re waking up tomorrow morning happy.”
With the win, the Lions finished their regular season at 10-2 and 7-2 in the Big Ten and kept alive their hopes for a New Year’s Six bowl invitation.
Here’s a look at the good and the bad:
Our two best promotions are back just in time for the holidays!
THE GOOD
• Brown had 103 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 carries, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. It was the third time in the past four games that the redshirt sophomore running back reached the 100-yard plateau. His rise has happened at just the right time, as fellow running back Noah Cain is still working his way back from an unspecified injury.
“Journey Brown just continues to grow and get better,” Franklin said. “We felt like we could have played Noah tonight, but he’s not 100 percent still. We worried that if we played him tonight and he tweaked it again, he would not be 100 percent for the bowl game. With the depth that we have at the running back position, it allowed us to do that with him.”
• Penn State didn’t do much through the air against Rutgers, but Levis came through in a big way in the fourth quarter with the Nittany Lions clinging to a seven-point lead. On third-and-15, he had to corral a low snap that bounced off the turf, but he still was able to roll away from trouble and heave a 44-yard touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson. That play accounted for more than half of Penn State’s total passing yards, as Levis completed 8 of 14 attempts for 81 yards, with the one touchdown and an interception.
• While the Lions didn’t have much success through the air, Levis he did rush for a team-best 108 yards on 17 carries. That total included a 49-yard gallop early in the third quarter to set up the Nittany Lions’ second touchdown.
“He ran the ball well, he ran hard and physical,” Franklin said. “This will be great tape for him to learn and grow from. We’re really excited about his future, but we could have been a little bit cleaner with some things tonight.”
• Blake Gillikin had a 72-yard punt in the second quarter that forced Rutgers to start at its own 1-yard line. Franklin called it “phenomenal.”
• The Lions were only penalized three times for 30 yards. One of those penalties was a roughing-the-quarterback flag thrown on Jayson Oweh that extended a Rutgers drive, but it was an iffy call in which Oweh didn’t appear to make a lot of contact. “We continue to play really disciplined Penn State football,” Franklin said.
THE BAD
• Clifford wasn’t the only starter to sit out the Lions’ regular-season finale. The team was shorthanded on the defensive line, in the receiver corps and especially in the secondary. Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos didn’t play, nor did cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, with both sidelined by injuries. Receiver Justin Shorter entered the transfer portal earlier in the week was removed from the roster days before the game vs. Rutgers.
The secondary was forced to rely heavily on true freshmen, as veteran starter John Reid joined Castro-Fields on the sideline after suffering an injury in the first quarter. Freshman Keaton Ellis started in place of Castro-Fields, while classmates Marquis Wilson and Joey Porter Jr. saw plenty of action.
All of those absences made a difference.
“We weren’t as explosive as we needed to be and probably gave up too many explosive plays,” Franklin said. “We had a lot of people on the field who hadn’t been on the field [very often in previous games]. Oweh got his first start. Ellis got his first start, Levis got his first start. [Daniel] George had started previously, but not much. Wilson and Porter played a bunch of football for us tonight. All of those things are really valuable. We’ll grow from that, we’ll learn from that.”
• Penn State’s two big playmakers in the passing game both had quiet afternoons. K.J. Hamler caught five passes, but they went for only 22 yards. Pat Freiermuth had just one catch for 4 yards.
On a much more positive note, however, Freiermuth gave the 2020 Lions a big lift by announcing after the game that he plans to return for his junior season. “The brotherhood and family atmosphere in this program is something that I am not ready to leave,” he said in a prepared statement. “The culture Coach Franklin and the staff have created here is something very special and I love being a part of it.”
• Penn State lost the turnover battle to a Rutgers team that had gone into the game ranked 129th in the Football Bowl Subdivision in turnover margin at minus-14. The Lions weren’t exactly sloppy; their only giveaway was an interception by Levis at the Rutgers goal line in the second quarter. But they weren’t able to generate any takeaways of their own. Heading into the postseason, only three Big Ten teams – Indiana, Northwestern and Rutgers – have intercepted fewer passes than Penn State, which has eight through 12 games.
LOOKING AHEAD
And now, they wait. The Lions won’t find out their bowl destination for another week, but they got an assist from Wisconsin in their bid to earn a spot in the Rose Bowl, as the Badgers thrashed Minnesota, 38-17, to push the Golden Gophers out of the Big Ten Championship Game. Now, the Lions will root for Ohio State to take Wisconsin out of the mix by beating the Badgers in Indianapolis.
For long stretches of its regular-season finale, Penn State didn’t look as sharp as it had been earlier in the year. But the Lions were good enough to put away another opponent, and the next time they take the field, whether it’s in California or Florida, they figure to be a lot healthier than they were against Rutgers.
“At the end of the day, we found a way to get a win against a Big Ten opponent,” Franklin said. “It gave us 10 for the year with a chance to get 11.”
*******
• Talk about this article inside The Lions Den
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue-White Illustrated
• Follow us on Twitter: @BWIonRivals, @NateBauerBWI, @RivalsSnyder, @DavidEckert98, @ThomasFrankCarr
• Like us on Facebook
