The Nittany Lions close out the regular season by visiting No. 6/6 Michigan State Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN. This game marks the Nittany Lions’ 10th appearance of the season on an ESPN/ABC network.
Saturday marks Penn State’s first visit to East Lansing since 2009 when the Nittany Lions claimed a 42-14 victory at Spartan Stadium. In that game, Daryll Clark was 19-for-27 for 310 yards and four touchdown passes, while Evan Royster ran for 114 yards on 13 carries. Graham Zug caught four passes for 99 yards and two scores and Andrew Quarless had four grabs for 62 yards and a pair of TDs to lead the receiving corps.
WINNER CLAIMS LAND GRANT TROPHY
• When the Penn State-Michigan State series was renewed with the Nittany Lions’ entrance into the Big Ten in 1993, the Land Grant Trophy was established to go to the winner in what was each school’s annual season finale from 1993-2010.
• The Land Grant Trophy honors Penn State’s and Michigan State’s unique places in history as the two pioneer land-grant institutions in the United States.
• Each school was founded in 1855, Michigan State on February 12 and Penn State on Feb. 22. The schools were the prototypes after which the land-grant system was patterned.
• Each institution brought to American education the new dimensions of service and outreach in addition to education and research.
• The Land Grant Trophy joins the Governor’s Victory Bell, presented to the Penn State-Minnesota victor, as the other trophy the Nittany Lions play for in Big Ten competition.
PENN STATE-MICHIGAN STATE CONNECTIONS
• Penn State sophomore S Troy Apke and Michigan State senior TE Paul Land both attended Mt. Lebanon (Pa.) High School.
• Penn State cornerbacks coach Terry Smith coached Michigan State sophomore DB Montae Nicholson for two seasons at Gateway (Pa.) High School.
• Penn State sophomore TE Brent Wilkerson and redshirt freshman RB Mark Allen and Michigan State senior LB Darien Harris all attended DeMatha Catholic (Md.) High School.
• Penn State redshirt freshman QB Billy Fessler, and Michigan State sophomore QB Damion Terry and junior running back Delton Williams all attended Erie (Pa.) Cathedral Prep.
• Penn State senior WR Matt Zanellato and Michigan State WR Austin Wolfe both attended Lake Braddock (Va.) Secondary.
NOTABLES FROM MICHIGAN
• Sophomore kicker Tyler Davis made a career-high three field goals against Michigan, surpassing his previous high of two in the Oct. 31 win over Illinois.
• Senior Jordan Dudas tied a career high with two tackles versus the Wolverines. He had two on two previous occasions, the last at Northwestern.
• Safety Marcus Allen made a career-high 12 tackles.
• Safety Malik Golden, wearing No. 9 in honor of injured teammate Jordan Lucas, had a career-high eight tackles.
• True freshman running back Saquon Barkley’s 56-yard run in the first quarter versus Michigan tied his career long, set at Ohio State.
• Junior tight end Brent Wilkerson had a career-high three catches against the Wolverines. He entered the game with four career catches.
BOWLING AGAIN
• Penn State is eligible to play in its 46th bowl game.
• The Lions’ 45 bowl appearances ranked ninth-highest among FBS schools at the start of the season.
• Head coach James Franklin is now 5-for-5 in leading teams to bowl eligibility as a head coach.
BLACKNALL GOES DEEP
• Sophomore wide receiver Saeed Blacknall leads the Nittany Lions with an average of 27.3 yards per reception on six catches on the year.
• Blacknall hauled in his second career touchdown with a 25-yard ball from Christian Hackenberg to give Penn State a 10-7 lead over Michigan in the second quarter.
• Both of Blacknall’s career touchdown catches have come in Penn State White Out games (Ohio State in 2014 and Michigan in 2015).
• Blacknall caught a 38-yard pass in the second quarter vs. Maryland to start a two-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Hackenberg connected with Chris Godwin on a 37-yard touchdown pass on the very next play.
• It was Blacknall’s first reception since he had a career-best 101 yards receiving against San Diego State, doing so on just four receptions. His previous best was 34 yards against Ohio State last year.
• Blacknall had career-long 46- and 45-yard receptions to obliterate his previous single-game standard. His previous long was a 24-yard reception last year against Ohio State.
HACKENBERG BECOMES PENN STATE’S CAREER LEADING PASSER
• Hackenberg now owns Penn State career records for passing yards (8,061), touchdown passes (46), completions (663), attempts (1,182), 200-yard passing games (20), 300-yard passing games (9) and total offense (7,818).
• With his 40-yard completion to Chris Godwin in the first quarter against Maryland, Hackenberg became Penn State’s career passing yardage leader, moving past Zack Mills (7,212; 2001-04).
• Hackenberg also became Penn State’s career completions leader in the Maryland game, again surpassing Zack Mills (606; 2001-04).
• Hackenberg’s touchdown pass to Saeed Blacknall against Michigan moved him into a tie atop the Penn State career touchdown passes list. He is tied with Matt McGloin (46) for first place.
• With 29 pass attempts against the Terps, Hackenberg moved into a tie for first place on Penn State’s career passing attempts list with Mills (1,082). With another 29 attempts against Illinois, Hackenberg took sole possession of the top spot.
• Hackenberg had 266 yards passing against Illinois, for his 19th career 200-yard passing game, the most ever by a Penn State quarterback. He had been tied with Matt McGloin for first place with 18 200-yard games.
• Hackenberg also owns the school record for 300-yard passing games, most recently extending the record against Maryland Oct. 24.
• With 134 yards of total offense against Michigan, Hackenberg passed Zack Mills (7,796) for first place on Penn State’s career total offense list. He now has 7,818 yards of total offense in his three seasons.
• Hackenberg is also the first player in program history to record three 2,000-yard passing seasons. Only Anthony Morelli (2006 & 2007) and Daryll Clark (2008 & 2009) have multiple 2,000-yard passing seasons.
• Nine of Penn State’s 18 seasons with 2,000 or more passing yards have occurred since 2005.
