A furious fourth-quarter rally served to be too overwhelming as the Penn State Nittany Lions were unable to bounce back from a 21-point third quarter deficit and fell to the Georgia Bulldogs 24-17 in the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl.
“Got to give those guys credit. They’re a talented team. Won nine games in a good conference. Got to give those guys credit,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said after the game.
First-half Struggles
There was not much going for the Penn State offense in the first half. After three-straight Christian Hackenberg completions of greater than 10 yards, the Nittany Lions offense stalled and stalled hard. Following a Saquon Barkley rush for no gain, a 3-yard loss on a jet sweep by Brandon Polk moved the mall to the 33-yard line.
“I thought that opening drive, we got some momentum going, then it stalled. We were trying to run the stretch play on offense versus their odd-front defense, cover guys up, get up in there, weren’t able to get Saquon going,” Franklin said.
A Hackenberg pass found its way into the hands of Georgia’s Domenick Sanders after bouncing off of Barkley to end the drive for Penn State. The Nittany Lions defense held the Bulldogs to a field goal on their ensuing drive.
Penn State got the scoring started with a Tyler Davis 34 yard field goal with 8:08 left in the half after a beat up Hackenberg helped march the Nittany Lions down the field before exiting with a shoulder injury.
Prior to Hackenberg leaving the game, the Palmyra, Virginia, native completed eight passes for 139 yards. Following a rush that found Hackenberg landing awkwardly on his throwing shoulder, the junior found Chris Godwin for a 19-yard completion and followed it up with a 51-yard completion two plays later. Hackenberg exited the game after an incompletion to tight end Kyle Carter, giving way to Trace McSorley to make his bowl game debut.
Georgia found the endzone on its next possession on a Malcolm Mitchell 44-yard touchdown reception from wide receiver Terry Godwin.
The Bulldogs and Nittany Lions would alternate three and outs until the Georgia offense found the end zone 24 seconds before the half concluded. Godwin was on the receiving end of a Greyson Lambert 17-yard pass to put the Bulldogs up 14 after a Patrick Beless extra point.
Hackenberg injured
Hackenberg was injured midway through the second quarter on a first down rush which resulted in the junior quarterback landing awkwardly on his throwing shoulder. The Penn State drive continued under the direction of the junior signal caller for five more plays two, of which he found Godwin for gains of 19 and 51 yards. After a second-down incompletion in the direction of tight end Kyle Carter, Hackenberg exited the game and was replaced by redshirt freshman Trace McSorley.
After the game, the Nittany Lions downplayed the Hackenberg injury saying it was only a “minor sprain.”
Godwin eclipses 1,000 yards
A six-catch, 133-yard performance pushed sophomore Chris Godwin into the Penn State record books as he became the third player in Nittany Lions history and the first since Allen Robinson in 2012 to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark. Bobby Engram passed the 1,000 yard mark twice for Penn State.
“Honestly, it’s very humbling knowing the great players who have come through Penn State, the great receivers who have come through here. For me to see my name at the top of the list as far as receiving yards it’s awesome, but I know I still need to work hard,” the newest member of the 1,000 yard club explained.
Stopping the big play
Even with a healthy defensive front seven, the Penn State defense was unable to limit the big play in the first half and started off slow according to Franklin.
“I really feel defensively that was the case. Defensively we made big plays later in the game — sacks, tackles for loss, momentum plays we weren’t able to get going early,” the second-year Penn State coach said.
All three of the touchdowns for the Bulldogs came on plays over 15 yards. The initial score was a 44-yard strike from wide out Terry Godwin to Malcolm Mitchell. Godwin was found by quarterback Greyson Lambert for a 17-yard touchdown pass just before the half ended.
“When we’re playing well, that’s what we’re doing. We’re able to pressure the quarterback and get tackles for loss. You’re going to have a long day if you’re not able to put pressure on the decision-maker back there. We weren’t able to do that early on,” Franklin said of the Penn State defensive line pressuring the Georgia offense.
The Beginning of the McSorley Era
The redshirt freshman entered the game with 13 total passing attempts as quarterback of the Nittany Lions. Thrust into action after Hackenberg went down, McSorley got off to a slow start according to Franklin.
“Trace came in. I think it took him a little bit to get going. Couple guys made some plays for him. It built his confidence. He was able to go from there.”
After the slow start, McSorley settled in and finished with 142 yards passing and two touchdowns.
A 17-yard strike to tight end Geno Lewis cut the Georgia lead to 14 seven seconds into the fourth quarter. The McSorley-to-Lewis connection capped off a 4-minute, 22-second drive for the Nittany Lions.
The Penn State defense wore down the Georgia offensive line and forced them into a three and out on its next possession, giving the ball back to McSorley and the offense with 9:18 left in the game.
McSorley was able to find DaeSean Hamilton in the middle of the endzone to cut the lead to seven with a little over six minutes left in the game.
The Bulldogs wound down the clock with a 10-play, 48-yard drive that whittled the clock to a minute and 52 seconds for the Nittany Lions’ offense to use.
Penn State was able to march into Georgia territory following a series of short passes to get to the 39-yard line of the Bulldogs. A McSorley hail mary was batted down just shy of the end zone putting the finishing touches on a Bulldog victory and the first extended playing time for McSorley.
The End of the Paterno Era
With the loss, the final class to play for the late Joe Paterno has completed their Penn State career. A senior class that included Kyle Carter, Ben Kline, Angelo Mangiro, Carl Nassib, Matt Zanellato, and Anthony Zettel played for all three permanent head coaches from 2011 until now.
“I can’t describe what we’ve gone through,” Mangiro explained after the game. “This group of seniors, that blue-collar mentality, buckled their straps and went to work each day.”
The next edition of the Nittany Lions seem to be in good hands according to Mangiro. “These young guys have been busting their butts just as hard as the older guys were. It’s the next guy up.”
Hackenberg and Johnson declare
Both Hackenberg and defensive tackle Austin Johnson announced postgame they will be entering the NFL Draft and foregoing their senior seasons.
“Penn State is a really special place. It means more to me than I ever thought it would,” the injured quarterback stated after the game.
Johnson was a big key to the success of the defensive front seven of the Nittany Lions as he was sandwiched between seniors Anthony Zettel and Carl Nassib.
What’s Next
Penn State enters the offseason with a new offensive coordinator in Joe Moorhead as well as with an opening at the quarterback position. McSorley looks to be the frontrunner to succeed Hackenberg at quarterback.
Godwin, whose success this year was fueled by a big performance in the Pinstripe Bowl last season, believes McSorley’s performance could do the same, “I definitely thinking it has the potential to be big for him. It’s just a matter of how he approaches the off-season.”
Despite the changes, Godwin is looking forward to the upcoming offseason. “I’m looking forward to learning Coach Moorhead’s new offense grinding with my teammates.”
While the Nittany Lions came up short on the scoreboard there were still reasons to be proud displayed by the Franklin led team “Our guys battled. They should be very proud. They should walk out of that locker room with their chest out, their head up. We got a lot of work to do moving forward.
Number one, I love these guys and I’m proud of them. The future’s very bright.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images
