clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Penn State 22, Wisconsin 10: What Twitter Had To Say

Delving into what the Twittersphere had to say about Penn State double digit victory over Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon

By Marty Leap
Photo by Heather Weikel

On Saturday afternoon the 20th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions improved to 7-3 on the season by defeating the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 22-10 at Beaver Stadium. As always, the Twittersphere was buzzing during this game. However, unlike recent weeks, Penn State Twitter was fun during this game!

Before the game, the talk was primarily about the weather. After all, the feel like temperature at kickoff was a balmy 19 degrees.

The main catalyst, in my opinion at least, behind Penn State’s victory was their defense. Three plays into the game Jonathan Taylor and the vaunted Badger rushing attack had 79 yards rushing and the a 7-0 lead. However, led by a dominant defensive line, Penn State’s defense held Taylor to just 106 yards and the Badger offense to a total of 190 yards the rest of the game.

Shareef Miller, Yetur Gross-Matos, Robert Windsor, Kevin Givens, and PJ Mustipher took this game over in the trenches for the Nittany Lions.

Windsor and Miller each had multiple sacks while YGM racked up the TFLs and was unblockable again.

The Penn State defense recovered a fumble on Saturday, too! This may not seem like much, but considering they have forced approximately 50 fumbles the past five weeks and kept failing to recovering them it was a big deal.

Actually, the defense was credited with two fumble recoveries. The second of which Miller would attempt to return only to fumble it himself with Wisconsin recovering.

Redshirt senior linebacker Koa Farmer started for the tenth time this season over Micah Parsons. Some people won’t be happy until Parsons gets the first start of his career, even if the team plays well while winning.

As for Parsons, he led the team in tackles, again, and continues to play well.

Despite all of the special teams woes for the Nittany Lions this season, things went well on Saturday. Outside of some kicking issues for Jake Pinegar, which can be chalked up to the howling winds, the Nittany Lion special team unites performed well. This included the wonderfulness that was C.J. Thorpe returning a kick...even if it did end in a fumble that Penn State recovered.

A few players later, Penn State successfully converted a 4th & 1 using a fake punt. Johnathan Thomas took a direct snap from Kyle Vasey, and ran for the first down. This kept a drive that ended in a key Pinegar field goal alive.

Offensively, it was what has come to be expected from the Nittany Lions. Saturday was the Trace McSorley and Miles Sanders show. Despite missing two series after re-aggravating his knee injury, McSorley looked much healthier than last week and was 19/25 for 160 yards and a touchdown.

Saturday was McSorley’s 29th victory as a starting quarterback at Penn State. This ties Todd Blackledge for the most wins by a QB in program history.

As for Sanders, he looked like a man among boys on Saturday. Sanders averaged 6.9 yards per carry while racking up 159 yards and a touchdown.

Sanders moves included a pair of hurdles that would make Saquon Barkley proud.

With his performance on Saturday, Sanders eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark for the season. His performance also garnered a Tweet from injured defensive tackle Fred Hansard that I feel comfortable saying all Penn State fans agree with.

That will do it for this week. Penn State is now 7-3, and it is Rutgers week.

More From Black Shoe Diaries