It took just two completions on Saturday afternoon for Christian Hackenberg to finally break Penn State’s career passing record.
The first completion, a 38-yard lob to DaeSean Hamilton, a receiver who has been on the receiving end of now 101 passes and 1119 yards of Hackenberg’s milestone.
The second, a 40-yard over-the-shoulder catch by Chris Godwin, the newest breakout star for a young Nittany Lion roster. If Hackenberg’s goal has always been to set Penn State up for a brighter future, Hamilton helped him do it and Godwin will help the next quarterback take that next step. Two passes to bridge the past and the future.
By the time the final whistle blew Hackenberg had 315 passing yards and three touchdowns to his name. In the record books he sits at 7,453 yards for his career surpassing Zack Mills’ gold standard of 7,212. Hackenberg’s 13 completions also passing Mills’ record with 608 now to his name. With one more attempt, Hackenberg will add that career mark to his growing list as well.
Predictably he didn’t dwell on it all that much following the game. Maybe in private, he and his brother a future Nittany Lion himself, sharing a moment on Twitter. Other than that, it was business as usual and on to Illinois.
“For me, that’s something that’s not going to hit me until later on down the road,” he said. “But it was really cool to be able to go out and get that done today and have my teammates around me and those guys making plays. I think it’s a product of a lot of things, a lot of great players coming through here helping me out. I don’t ever try and make it about me.”
If anything Hackenberg got to the record with a game that fittingly resembled more of his higher moments. Passes down the field, big catches by his receivers and taking risks along the way. Needing just 75-yards it could have come in many forms, to get them all in two long passes like so many he had thrown in prior years, that was a nice footnote in the record books.
What is perhaps more evident across the entire team is the small amount of swagger slowly flowing into the program. Just a smallest trickle, but as the Nittany Lions move the ball and score points (70 in the last three games) the reason sports are played in the first place is a bit more present. There is no more rain, just football and not unwatchable football at that.
It’s fun.
Ask Hackenberg if he’s having fun and he breaks out of his usual postgame demeanor with a smile and a laugh, maybe a bit telling all on its own.
“I mean it’s always fun,” Hackenberg said. “We’re definitely more comfortable and a lot more confident in how we’re going to take our shots and what you’re going to do. I think that it is what it is, we’ve got a lot of great mojo, we’re making a lot of big plays, the defense is playing well and played well when it needed to tonight and did a great job for us. It’s getting to that point of the season where it’s starting to grind a little bit and we’re making it as fun and as competitive as we can at practice and then on Saturdays.”
With two more games until a bye week Penn State has a chance to get to an 8-2 record that is hard to truly knock given the past half decade or more of the program’s history. The Nittany Lions aren’t going to be striking the fear of God into any this year, but with a bit of swagger and a few more smiles, Penn State doesn’t have to turn a slog of a season into a negative either.
“You need that [fun], especially now, we’re playing 10 in a row,” Hackenberg added. “That can get tough so I think the type of dudes we have in that locker room, make it fun and make it a challenge each and every day to get better and that’s what you look for in a good football team.”
For each and every one of Hackenberg’s now record setting yards, he will likely remember a lot of different games and emotions along the way. It’s unlikely though he’ll ever forget the night he made the milestone his own.
Because if nothing else, he had a good time doing it.
