Return of LBs Bell, Cabinda from injuries sparks PSU win
a matter of spreading that attitude and getting everybody else on board. And you saw that tonight.
“Everybody was on board. Everybody believed.”
Junior cornerback Grant Haley, who returned a blocked field goal for the win, said Bell had been telling the team throughout the game, “Dogs don’t quit in a fight. A dogfight’s going to last 12 rounds.” And Cabinda said Bell told him after the win, “I don’t want to see any of that crying stuff, man, because this isn’t a fluke.”
But Bell admitted to being nervous about his individual performance after not playing since Week 2.
“I honestly thought that I would be a lot shakier in this game,” Bell said. “I told my team that before the game, and they had my back, and we showed up.”
Having the veteran linebackers back, Cabinda is a junior and Bell a senior, seemed to inspire the rest of the defensive players, especially on a vital stand with about four minutes to play to preserve the victory.
Fellow linebacker sophomore Manny Bowen made a career-high 11 tackles. Redshirt junior defensive end Garrett Sickels posted career-highs with nine tackles, 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss, all in just the second half after sitting out the first with a suspension.
Defensive players also made big special-teams plays. Freshman linebacker Cam Brown blocked a punt that junior safety Troy Apke recovered in the fourth quarter. That led to a Penn State field goal which pulled the Nittany Lions within four points of the Buckeyes.
Then, junior safety Marcus Allen blocked the field goal that Haley scooped up to return 60 yards for the winning score.
Allen nearly blocked a kick in the first half. After some discussion with special-teams coordinator Charles Huff — who told him, “If they are on the right hash, they are going to try to kick it onto the defense’s left guard because it is on the uprising” —
Allen made the adjustment when the opportunity came again.
“I jumped. I had nobody touch me, and I put my hands up. And it smacked me right in my koi fish,” Allen said, referring to his right forearm tattoo. “I still feel it.”
For a unit that had been injury-ravaged most of this season, seeing what those players achieved against a top-two team was almost as implausible as the final score.
“Our defense is unbelievable,” coach James Franklin said.
“This [defensive coordinator] Brent Pry guy is pretty good, and he has stepped up. I mean, we lost seven linebackers this year for long periods of time, and our defense just kept grinding and grinding, making no excuses and just playing.”