Lions get their growls back in victory
STATE COLLEGE — All week long, Penn State's defense was told how strenuous an opponent Wisconsin's offensive line would be. The linemen, in particular, had heard enough.
“We respect Wisconsin's offensive line, but some of us were kind of tired of hearing about their OL the whole week,” said Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller, who made two sacks. “Coming into the game, we were ready for the challenge. And I think we proved it.”
Penn State's 22-10 win over Wisconsin on Saturday brought tightened chinstraps and burly growls back to the Lions' sideline, which had lost some of its feral nature lately. It was classic November Big Ten football, highlighted by a third-andshort play in the first quarter.
Wisconsin, whose run game knows no deviation, lined seven players on the line, with two lineman in the backfield fronting 221-pound running back Taiwan Deal. Penn State had 11 players within 4 yards of the line, and seven on it.
Wisconsin was running, Penn State knew Wisconsin was running and Wisconsin ran. Penn State's Yetur Gross-Matos shouldered through the nearly 4,000-pound mass to stop Deal for no gain and force a punt.
Quarterback Trace McSorley cheered from the sideline. This was the game he wanted and his team needed.
“It was huge for us to get this kind of win,” McSorley said, “being physical and taking control of a game.”
Penn State (7-3) didn't play at peak consistency Saturday, particularly on its opening defensive drive or in the red zone on offense. But after last week, when Michigan's lines wore down Penn State in a 42-7 win, the Lions at least recaptured some of their alpha.
Penn State won the time-ofpossession statistic for the first time since the Ohio State game. The offense converted 40 percent of its third-down snaps and was at 50 percent in the first half. The defense got off the field on third down, notably on that 3rd-and-2 jumbo formation.
At points during the Big Ten season, Penn State had not proven itself to be the more physical team. Especially on offense, whose short, fruitless drives in important situations led to opposing touchdowns (notably against Ohio State and Michigan State).
Against Wisconsin — hindered by injuries, to be sure — Penn State’s offense put together grind-out drives that used more than 12 minutes of the second half. Those series produced just six points but made the offense feel more secure in its ability to clear holes and run through them.
For Penn State’s line, the challenge loomed all week. Coach James Franklin swapped his tackles, moving Ryan Bates to the right side and Will Fries to the left, to generate more consistent blocking and protection. The right side of Bates and Connor McGovern in particular cleared space for running back Miles Sanders, who rushed for
159 yards to top 1,000 for the season.
“Even though we struggled [last week], I told them earlier in the week we were going to run the ball,” Sanders said. “We had confidence going into this game.”
As did Penn State’s defense, which had labored the past month. The group played an exhausting 346 plays the past four games, a product of thirddown lapses on both sides. As a result, Franklin scaled back their practice time to save legs and stamina.
Miller looked the better for it, beating double-teams on several quarterback hurries and one sack. Fellow linemen Robert Windsor and Gross-Matos contributed four tackles for loss. That pressure led Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan to throw an erratic interception late in the
first half.
“We made major changes in practice this week so we could cut back, not necessarily on reps but the time we were out there, and invested a little more time in meetings,” Franklin said. “You need to do that late in the season anyway, but it was magnified because of the amount of reps our defense has gotten.”
After the game, Miller called Wisconsin’s line “by far the best unit we’ve played” this season. Thus, the defense’s overall dominance proved more rewarding.
“I definitely would say this was one of our more complete games on both sides of the ball,” cornerback Amani Oruwariye said.
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