Penn State’s rally falls short
JACKSONVILLE, FLA. >> After watching Terry Godwin execute the trick play in practice, Georgia interim coach Bryan McClendon was having second thoughts about calling it in the bowl game.
His players and coaches convinced him otherwise.
It may have been the best decision of McClendon’s short-lived coaching career.
Godwin threw a 44yard touchdown pass that got the Bulldogs going and caught a 17-yarder later, doing a little bit of everything in Georgia’s 24-17 win over Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Saturday.
“It’s why you have to trust the people that are around you,” said McClendon, tabbed to fill in after fired coach Mark Richt opted not to stick around for the bowl game. “They said it was there.”
It was. And it helped the Bulldogs (10-3) win their fifth consecutive game to close the season, send McClendon out a winner in his head-coaching debut and give the senior class its 40th career victory.
“There definitely was a lot of motivation,” Georgia linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “We really felt for BMac. He was thrown into the fire, thrown into a situation that he didn’t expect to get thrown into and it was just something that we really wanted to ban together and fight for. He was in the same position we were.”
Incoming coach Kirby Smart was in attendance for part of the game and had to like what he saw. Despite a makeshift coaching staff — Georgia used different offensive and defensive coordinators — the Bulldogs turned in one of their most complete performances since September.
It helped that Penn State (7-6) played more than half the game without star quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
Hackenberg
left
in
the second quarter with a right shoulder injury, hurt when linebacker Roquan Smith tackled him.
He headed to the locker room after an incompletion and returned for the second half in street clothes. He said he wanted to play, but team officials told him no.
Trace McSorley replaced Hackenberg and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Geno Lewis on the first play of the fourth quarter and then a 20-yard strike to DaeSean Hamilton with 6:14 to play. Hamilton’s leaping grab between two de- fenders made it close, a welcome change given many of the games on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The Bulldogs responded with a 50-yard drive that could have sealed the victory, but they failed to convert a fourth-and-2 play at the 23. McClendon decided to go for it because kicker Marshall Morgan injured an ankle on a kickoff and backup Collin Barber missed a 48-yarder in the third quarter.
“If we had gotten a first down, you know, without anything crazy happening, then the game would over,” McClendon said.
Penn State took over with 1:52 remaining and no timeouts. McSorley converted two fourth-down plays, but eventually ran out time. His final pass, a Hail Mary to the end zone, was batted down as time expired.
The Nittany Lions lost their fourth in a row to end coach James Franklin’s second season.
Georgia led 24-3 late in the third after Sony Michel carried 260-pound defensive end Garrett Sickels into the end zone.
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