Penn State Football: Defense Shows Up In Time And Four Late Drives Seal The Deal

It’s difficult to say that Penn State’s defense played a great game in the conventional sense. An evening that involves giving up 30 points and nearly 500 yards of offense is far from what you might call a textbook outing.

But it was the ability to flip the switch late in Penn State’s 31-30 victory and the ability make big plays that through the slop and missed tackles a glimmer of something great shined.

Early on it showed. Maryland marching the ball down the field with relative ease on the game’s opening drive. The Terps surprisingly efficient mixing in three plays of over 15-yards. Penn State’s streak of scoring first in seven straight games was almost certainly on its way towards being broken.

So as Grant Haley floated towards his man and leaped into the air he came down not only with the ball and an interception, but a key stop early in the game. The kind of play that only seems more and more important as the points pile up and the clock winds down.

Driving once again, Maryland looked fit to score yet again and open a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter driving the ball all the way to Penn State’s 19-yardline.

And then freshman John Reid, whose nose for the ball has looked years beyond his true freshman status popped the pigskin free from Perry Hills and Marcus Allen recovered it.

Maybe 14 points not on the board. Maybe only six. Either way no damage done.

For the next 35-40 minutes Penn State’s defense was relatively absent. The Nittany Lions giving up drives of 43, 68, 88 and 54 yards and a total of 20 points in the process. The final three drives of that sequence come consecutively late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The game had gone from an ugly slugfest to one where the last team to have the ball would probably win.

It was at 10:06 mark of the final 15 minutes of play when the switch was hit. Penn State’s defense playing like so many expected it to do so many hours earlier. In a game where the Nittany Lion defense spent 36 minutes on the field they got stronger not weaker as the evening wore on.

“I never get tired” Austin Johnson said with a laugh, sweat still pouring down his face after the game.

“A lot of it is mindset,” Jason Cabinda added. “And some of it is that you have your feet set and you have a feel for the game and the feel for what the offense is doing. So guys can play more confidently and play faster and make more plays.”

And those plays came.

With Maryland riding the momentum of a recovered kickoff fumble, the Terps were just 32-yards from take a late 37-31 lead. As Hills went back to pass though Brandon Bell bulldozed through blockers, getting a hand on Hills, knocking the ball free and towards defensive end Garrett Sickels. 36-yards later Penn State had flipped the field and stood looking at the Maryland endzone from just 28-yards out.

In a perfect world Penn State would have managed points from that drive. Instead the Nittany Lions used just 15 seconds off the clock and moved zero yards down the field. Joey Julius’ ensuing 45-yard field goal went wide left and in turn reopened the door for a late Maryland score.

So out went Penn State’s offense.

This time the defense stood even taller. Maryland gaining just eight yards, forcing a fourth and two from the Terps’ 36. And as Hills rolled to his right he threw the ball up and eventually into the arms of Penn State’s Trevor Williams. Another drive and another stop.

But once again Penn State’s offense sputtered and a fumble by Christian Hackenberg at midfield once again gave life to Maryland offense just waiting to strike.

And on third and five Carl Nassib found the backfield for his 12.5th sack of the season and the first of the night. After being held in check most of the night one of Penn State’s best showed up when he was needed most. Facing a fourth and 10, Maryland got just seven yards, turning the ball back over once again.

Predictably, Penn State’s offense stalled and a punt with just 1:21 to go in the game set the Nittany Lion defense up for a fourth and final stop.

“When it comes down to that final drive and they score to win the game, that’s not playing winning football,” Cabinda added with a smile, surrounded by reporters after the game. “So although we weren’t playing perfect football, we were playing winning football getting the stops when we needed them the most and I think that’s what we did.”

It’s exactly what they did. Malik Golden’s interception on Maryland’s first play of the drive ended all doubts and put an emphatic exclamation point on a performance that had gone from forgettable to clutch in the short span of a few drives.

In the box score it will say that Penn State gave up lots of points and lots of yards. Undoubtedly true are the issues the Nittany Lions created all on their own. Missed tackles and missed assignments will and have cost Penn State against better teams.

What the box score won’t say, that Penn State’s defense was led by a linebacker who made big plays, a safety who recorded a sack and a defensive line that stepped up when it was needed.

As complete as it can get. And when needed the most it delivered, in fact it delivered four straight drives in a row.

“The most important thing is that we held them to one less point than our offense scored.” James Franklin said in the bowels of M&T Bank Stadium.

And if not for the same Penn State defense that was uncharacteristically porous, it may have been Maryland’s players saying all the same things after the game.