The Penn State Nittany Lions (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) exploded for 45 points in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s game on the way to a 62-24 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers. Here are the game’s “Cheers and jeers.”
Cheers
Third quarter explosion— The Penn State offense benefited from great field position field throughout the third quarter and used it to its advantage, scoring 24 points in the third quarter. (Two Purdue turnovers also helped.) In that third quarter, Chris Godwin got the scoring started with a 1-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Trace McSorley. Andre Robinson followed the Godwin touchdown up with a rushing touchdown from four yards out with 8:17 left in the third quarter. Then, on their next position, the Nittany Lions were forced to settle for a Tyler Davis field goal possession before Miles Sanders took a McSorley pass 21 yards to the endzone to round out the scoring in that third quarter.
The Saquon Show— Sophomore running back Saquon Barkley showed why he’s one of the premiere backs in the country with his performance against Purdue. The sophomore sensation took a little over three quarters to amass 277 yards of total offense and two touchdowns. Barkley ran for 207 yards on 18 carries, with 81 of those yards coming on a touchdown run where he went untouched the entire time.
Defense and special teams come up big, again— Penn State turned two Purdue turnovers into 14 points to start the second half and put the game away for good. Linebacker Brandon Smith picked off a David Blough pass on the third play of the third quarter to set the Nittany Lions up for the Godwin touchdown reception. The Boilermakers muffed a punt on the ensuing Penn State possession to give the ball right back to the Nittany Lions. Two plays later, Robinson ran the ball into the endzone. Penn State finished with 28 points on four Boilermaker turnovers.
Jeers
Penalties killer on defense— The Boilermakers benefited from three penalties in a row on the Penn State defense while in the red zone en route to Purdue’s first touchdown of the afternoon. The Nittany Lions had seven penalties in the first half for 42 yards before settling down in the second half and recording only four penalties.
Highlight of the Game
You just start to run out of captions for Saquon Barkley GIFs pic.twitter.com/bgPKBU3IPi
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) October 29, 2016
The highlight of the game comes from Barkley.
En route to a 207-yard rushing performance, Barkley went 81 yards to the house UNTOUCHED for his second touchdown of the afternoon.
Up Next
Penn State returns home to Beaver Stadium for a prime-time match-up against the Iowa Hawkeyes next Saturday night. The Hawkeyes had this weekend off and sit at 5-3 on the season and 3-2 in the Big Ten. In their last action on the field, Iowa lost to then-No. 10 Wisconsin 17-9. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EDT.
Image credit: USA TODAY Sports
