Penn State Falls 28-16 to Michigan

AdminNovember 21, 2015

4 minutes read

UNIVERSITY PARK – It was Senior Day inside of a Whited Out Beaver Stadium, but the Penn State football team couldn’t produce enough offense to topple Michigan in a 28-16 setback. There were 19 seniors honored prior to playing in their final home game in front of 107,418 white-clad supporters on a sun-splashed day inside of the nation’s second-largest stadium.

Junior quarterback Christian Hackenberg (Palmyra, Va.) threw for 137 yards with one touchdown pass. His lone touchdown toss was to Saeed Blacknall (Manalapan, N.J.) and pushed him into a tie atop Penn State’s career passing touchdowns list with the 46th in his career. He is now tied with Matt McGloin, who threw 46 scoring strikes from 2009-12.

Hackenberg also became the first Nittany Lion quarterback to surpass the 8,000-yard passing mark, and in the process moved into the top spot on the career total yards ledger. He now owns the career record for passing attempts (1,182), completions (663), yardage (8,061), 200-yard passing games (20), 300-yard passing games (9) and total yardage (7,818), while sitting tied atop of the passing touchdowns (46) list.

Junior special team specialist Von Walker (Mill Hall, Pa) blocked a Michigan punt and also made a saving tackle on a PSU kickoff following a Nittany Lion score. The Central Mountain grad also returned one punt for one yard.

Brandon Bell (Mays Landing, N.J.) grabbed his first interception of the season – and second of his career – midway through the first quarter. He returned the pick 25 yards to the Michigan 40. In the third quarter, Bell forced his fourth career fumble and recovered the ball at the UM 42, which eventually led to a 24-yard field goal from Tyler Davis (St. Charles, Ill.).

Davis was successful on a career-high three field goals in the game. He connected on all three tries, converting from 23, 24 and 18 yards in the game.

Junior tight end Brent Wilkerson (Clinton, Md.) set a career high with three receptions, accounting for 16 yards. Sophomore Chris Godwin (Middletown, Del.) also caught three passes, logging 51 yards, and moved into the top-20 in career receiving yardage with 1,180. Godwin also moved into a tie for No. 9 on the single season receptions list with his 52nd catch of the season, earning him a tie with Bobby Engram (1994).

Defensively, junior Malik Golden (Hartford, Conn) – wearing No. 9 to honor injured senior safety Jordan Lucas – posted a career-high with eight stops. It is the second straight game Golden eclipsed his career-high, logging six stops at Northwestern Nov. 7. Sophomore Marcus Allen (Upper Marlboro, Md.) also registered a career high in the tackles column with 12 stops. He had collected 11 tackles on three occasions, most recently vs. Rutgers on Sept. 19, 2015.

Penn State scored first for the 11th time in its last 12 games after Saquon Barkley (Warrington, Pa.) broke off a 56-yard rush to move the Nittany Lions down to the Michigan 9-yard line. After three run plays netted three yards, Davis connected on a 23-yard field goal to push Penn State ahead early, 3-0

Michigan responded a six-play, 73-yard drive that was capped by a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jake Rudock to Jake Butt. Along with the touchdown pass, Rudock found Jehu Chesson for two completions, gaining seven and 39 yards, respectively.

The two teams remained scoreless until the 2:01 mark of the second quarter when Penn State logged its own six-play touchdown drive, this one covering 43 yards in 2:04. Hackenberg completed passes for five, nine and four yards to set up the scoring strike to Blacknall. On third-and-6 from the UM 29-yard line, Hackenberg threw a pass into the right corner of the south end zone that Blacknall came back to and made the jumping catch to push Penn State back in front, 10-7.

The lead didn’t last long, as Michigan marched 70 yards on seven plays to recapture the lead, 14-10, with under one minute to play in the opening half. The Wolverines used passes of 26, 11 and 18 yards to move down to the Penn State 11-yard line. Rudock then found Amara Darboh on a wide receiver screen for an 11-yard score.

A muffed punt by Penn State helped the Wolverines build a 21-10 lead with 6:07 left in the third quarter. After Michigan took over at the Penn State 9-yard line, they used a six-yard gain by Jabrill Peppers and a two-yard rush by De’Veon Smith set up third-and-goal from the PSU one. Sione Houma took the handoff on third down and bulled his way into the end zone for the score.

Bell was the catalyst on Penn State’s third scoring drive of the game, coming away with a sack-fumble of Rudock, a fumble which he recovered at the Michigan 42. After gaining just one yard on the first three plays of the drive, Hackenberg found Godwin streaking down the middle of the field. Godwin made the catch at the 20-yard line and drug a pair of Michigan defenders down to the UM three. The Lions were unable to find the end zone on the first three plays of the fourth quarter and Davis connected on his second field goal of the day, this one from 24 yards.

The Nittany Lions marched 62 yards on 10 plays to draw within five points on another Davis field goal, this time from 18 yards out. On the drive, Hackenberg rushed for 17 yards on a big third-and-14 play to keep the drive alive. He then found Barkley for a 14-yard catch-and-run, before Brandon Polk(Ashburn, Va.) rushed for five yards to take the ball inside the UM 2-yard line. After an incomplete pass in the end zone, Davis came on to convert his third kick of the day.

The final scoring drive came from the visiting sideline on the next drive. After a 55-yard return of the kickoff by Jourdan Lewis, Michigan benefited from a pass interference call and Peppers ran for five yards to take the ball down to the Penn State 1-yard line. From there, Smith drove over the pile for the 1-yard rushing touchdown and a 28-16 lead for Michigan.

The Nittany Lions close out the regular season with a visit to No. 9 Michigan State Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The game will air on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN. The network will be determined on Sunday.