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Penn State 20, Rutgers 7: What Twitter Had To Say

On Saturday afternoon the Nittany Lions picked up their eighth win of the season by escaping against Rutgers

By Marty Leap
NCAA Football: Penn State at Rutgers Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

On Saturday afternoon James Franklin led the No. 14 Penn State Nittany Lions into Piscataway, New Jersey, for the team’s final road game of the 2018 season. Following an escape from Piscataway with a less than exciting 20-7 victory, the Nittany Lions are now 8-3 on the season. Saturday’s victory, however, was a bit painful to watch.

After Saturday’s loss, Rutgers is now 7-28 under the leadership of head coach Chris Ash. Maybe that’s why the stadium was void of Scarlet Knight fans.

From the time the game started until the end, Sean Spencer’s Wild Dogs dominated the line of scrimmage. Prior to Saturday’s game Rutgers had allowed just 12 sacks all season. Well, Penn State’s defensive line recorded three of the team’s four sacks on Saturday.

Yetur Gross-Matos, Shareef Miller, Robert Windsor, Kevin Givens, Antonio Shelton, and PJ Mustipher all had strong games for the Nittany Lions on the defensive line. Daniel Joseph got in on the fun too by doing the elusive and recovering a fumble for Penn State’s defense.

When things were all said and done, Penn State’s defensive line had four sacks, eight TFLs, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. They also batted down two passes at the line of scrimmage and drew three holding calls. Give Coach Chaos a blank check this offseason please and thank you.

True freshman linebacker Micah Parsons finally made his first career start on Saturday and he did not disappoint. The Harrisburg native was all over the field punishing one Rutgers ball carrier after another. Parsons finished the game with seven tackles, a sack, two TFLs, and he forced a fumble.

Speaking of that fumble Parsons forced, the Nittany Lions failed to recover it. This marked approximately the 1,000th fumble that Penn State forced this season but failed to recovery. Drops by the wide receivers continued to be an issue as well.

There was also a play in the third quarter that was very Rutgers. With Penn State leading 13-0 the Scarlet Knights ran their version of the ‘Philly Special’. The play worked to perfection as quarterback Giovanni Rescigno was wide open in the end zone....but, in true Rutgers fashion, he dropped the ball.

Throughout the day Penn State’s defense dominated a porous Rutgers offense. Holding the Scarlet Knights to just 234 yards of total offense and one score while forcing three turnovers, Brent Pry’s group carried the weight today while the offense sputtered.

While Penn State’s offense was rough on Saturday, Pat Freiermuth continues to emerge as one of the best tight ends in the Big Ten. The true freshman hauled in three passes for 47 yards and a pair of scores.

It was also a record setting day for senior signal caller Trace McSorley. On top of eclipsing 100 career touchdowns, McSorley picked up his 30th career win on Saturday. This victory makes Trace the winningest quarterback in program history.

Congrats, Trace, and thank you for all that you have done for this program!

That does it for this week. Penn State is now 8-3. It’s Maryland, and Senior Day, week.

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