EVANSTON, Ill. — Sometimes the journey is better than the destination. For the Nittany Lions on Saturday against Northwestern, it was a stop on the road to what they hope is much bigger — and better —in 2023.
So far, that journey has them at No. 6 in the country and 5-0 and — and, in the biggest way possible, since at least 2017 — ready, willing and able to meet Ohio State and Michigan head-on.
It didn’t seem that way for the first half at Ryan Field on Saturday. A 10-10 desultory halftime tie finally gave way to a 41-13 Penn State victory over a clearly outmanned Northwestern team that was coming off a miracle comeback against Minnesota. And that was that.
Next up: a bye — but not “off” — week and UMass.
More about that journey, and mine, in this week’s All-22.
No. 1 The dateline may say the home of Northwestern’s Ryan Field. But I am writing this week’s All-22 from the dining room table at my home out by Colyer Lake, south of State College.
More accurately, the dateline should read: Centre Hall-Harrisburg-O’Hare-Evanston-and back again.
Saturday was a business trip for me. There and back, in 19 hours and 21 minutes.
Sensing an 11 a.m. local kick for this game, over the summer I found a single-day roundtrip airfare for just $172 from Harrisburg International Airport — 81 minutes from my house — to Chicago, and saw it as a fairly inexpensive gamble for a new opportunity to do a daytrip to the game.
2. Since Penn State joined the Big Ten, such there-and-come-right-back trips to/from Rutgers and Maryland have been pretty commonplace. And in 2018, my StateCollege.com colleague Ben Jones and I flew from State College to O’Hare, then drove the two-an-a-half hours to Champaign, Ill., to cover a Penn State-Illinois game. Afterwards, we filed our stories, drove back to O’Hare, wrote some more and flew home. But that trip spanned two days. And it is something neither of us plans to do again. At least for a while.
But this one? Sign me up. It was a lot of fun. I wore shorts (and a dress shirt), and had only my backpack, a laptop, some notebooks, a few copies of The New Yorker and two energy bars.
Now once all those West Coast schools join the Big Ten? I’ll still do a there-and-back — in a week.
3. I looked at the seating chart when I arrived on the eighth floor of the Ryan Field press box. Seat 29 was the Cheez-It Bowl. I was in Seat 28. “Geez. This ought to be good,” I thought. Well, it certainly was.
Sitting in Seat 29 was Jeff Malehorn, Penn State Class of ’83. He was PSU and Penn State football savvy. A finance major, Jeff grew up in Landisville — not too far from my hometown of Palmyra — and was, he says, named the “No. 1 high school sports editor in the country” for the Hempfield Flash. We hit it off.
Jeff and Citrus Bowl veteran Mike DiMauro were officially scouting the home team, but also took notes on Penn State: “Northwestern actually travels well, and we certainly know that Penn State does.” The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, though not a New Year’s 6 contest, pits highly-ranked teams from the Big Ten and the SEC. The last time Penn State was there (Jan. 1, 2019), it lost to Kentucky, 27-24.
3a. Jeff picked finance over journalism at Penn State and had a stellar career at GE. Now retired, he has homes in Glen Coe, just eight miles from Evanston, and Vail, Colorado. An avid college football fan, he is a newbie on the selection committee for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, which will be played on Jan. 1, 2024. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl, also played in Orlando, on Dec. 28.
3b. Cheez-Its and Pop-Tarts? Man, this was my lucky day. And, if I play my cards right, Jeff and his bowl sponsors will be sending samples to my Comm170 class at Penn State.
4. Also in the Ryan Field press box on Saturday: Penn Stater Ira Miller, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A 1966 journalism grad, Ira covered the 49ers and the NFL for almost three decades — and all of the Joe Montana Super Bowl years — for the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s a winner of the prestigious Bill Nunn Award, bestowed annually by the Professional Football Writers of America to a reporter for their “long and distinguished contribution to pro football through coverage.” Nunn recipients make up what is informally called the writers wing of the HOF.
Ira covered Penn State football for The Daily Collegian as an undergrad, and still serves as a mentor to its writers and editors today. In fact, on Friday Ira — who lives in the Morton Grove suburb of Chicago — lunched with one of the Collegian football reporters.
4a. Ira remembers covering the 1964 Penn State-Ohio State game at The Horseshoe. “It was Nov. 7 and Penn State was 3-4 at the time. They went to Columbus and defeated Ohio State, 27-0. Ohio State was undefeated and ranked No. 2 at the time. I was working for the CDT at the time, having finished my Collegian run, and had to cover a high school game on Friday night. I hitched a ride to Columbus on Saturday morning in a four-seat plane with a pilot who was a student. At least, I think he had a pilot’s license.”
5. The next two Saturdays are easy ones for Penn State. There is a bye on Oct. 7, and on Oct. 14 the Nittany Lions host 1-5 UMass for Homecoming. Don’t call next Saturday an off week, James Franklin said on Saturday. “It’s not an off week. It’s a bye week. We got to use this week to get better in the short term with our program and then the long term for recruiting.”
6. Undefeated Ohio State, surprisingly undefeated Maryland and undefeated Michigan are ahead after that. You can make a case, as Franklin likes to say, that as it stands right now the Nittany Lions have one of the toughest schedules in college football, according to NCAA statistics.
6a. Take away UMass, and Penn State currently has the toughest overall schedule for 2023 — combining current records of past and future opponents. Combined, without UMass, PSU’s 2023 foes have a 37-11 record (.771 winning percentage). West Virginia and Rutgers are both 4-1.
As it stands by counting UMass, Penn State is No. 16 for toughest schedules, with a 2023 slate of opponents that are currently 38-16 (.704) — same as Texas, for example. Stanford is No. 1 (42-13, .764), while Michigan State (.759) is in a tie for second and Ohio State (.745) is No. 6.
7. At the post-game press conference on Saturday, Franklin acknowledged — uncharacteristically — that he and his staff are going to work ahead, meaning beyond UMass and into prepping for Ohio State (Oct. 21) and Michigan (Nov. 11).
Franklin said: “The weekend will be huge, especially if it’s handled the right way. And then obviously being able to dig into our self-scout, offense, defense and special teams, and then as I won’t talk about, but we’re also going to get ahead. The coaches will get ahead on the schedule as well during this bye week.”
7a. Sitting in the second row, I literally raised my eyebrows. James noticed.
Franklin: “And just so we’re all clear: The only reason I did that is that we’re not playing anybody this week. I’m talking about our process. I saw Poorman’s eyebrows go up. Don’t think that’s happening again.”
8. More from Franklin: The best thing about Drew Allar as a starting quarterback? The head coach is pretty sure it is this one thing (see above Tweet).
No. 9. Former Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker wears No. 9 for the Chicago Bears. Brisker was picked in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft by Chicago, and is in his second season with the hapless Bears. On Saturday, Bears GM Ryan Poles — under fire for a 3-18 record (the Bears lost to the Broncos on Sunday) since he took over and in the midst of severe off-field drama — was at Ryan Field. Poles wore a Brisker sweatshirt and chatted with several Penn State coaches and staffers, as well as NFL scouts who were also watching pre-game warm-ups.
No. 10. Penn State’s current winning streak stands at 10 consecutive victories, beginning with its 45-14 victory at Indiana on Nov. 5, 2022. The Nittany Lions won their last five of the ’22 season and have now won their first five of the 2023 season. It is Franklin’s longest winning streak at PSU.
10a. Penn State’s average margin of victory in those 10 games is a staggering 29.4 points. That’s stunning. The tightest game was the 35-21 win over Utah in the Rose Bowl. Two of the victories have come against ranked opponents: No. 8 Utah and No. 24 Iowa.
10b. Those margins of victory: 31 points, 30, 45, 19, 14, 23, 56, 17, 31, 28.
10c. College football’s top 10 of current longest winning streaks includes Marshall, coached by former Penn State RB coach Charles Huff, and Maryland — headed by former Franklin co-worker with the Terps, HC Mike Locksley, and former Franklin assistant, OC Josh Gattis. The top 10: Georgia (22), Fresno State (14), Washington (12), Penn State (10), Air Force (10), Florida State (10), Marshall (9), James Madison (8), Maryland (7), Louisville (6) and Oregon (6).
11. Penn State’s last loss? Oct. 29, 2022 against No. 2 Ohio State, 44-31, in Beaver Stadium.
12. You know this already, but what about its genesis? Penn State has scored over 30 points in 12 straight games, the nation’s longest such streak. That string includes the 10-game winning streak, but also two additional games in 2022. It began against Minnesota, Oct. 22, 2022, with a 45-17 win, and includes last year’s loss to the Buckeyes.
12a. The last time Penn State did NOT score 30 points in a game? The would be the 41-17 loss at No. 5 Michigan on Oct. 15, 2022.
13. More Huff: He was at Penn State for four seasons (2014-17), coaching RBs Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders, as well as special teams. He then had stints at Mississippi State (under former PSU OC Joe Moorhead) and Alabama, and is 20-10 at Marshall.
13a. Four of Franklin’s former assistants at Penn State are now head coaches: Huff, Moorhead (now at Akron), Ricky Rahne (Old Dominion) and Brent Pry (Virginia Tech, a 38-21 winner over Pitt on Saturday). All were on the staff when Penn State went 22-5 in 2016-17. High caliber group. Franklin’s 2023 assistants, overall, are on par with that staff. Only OG Terry Smith was/is on both staffs. Credit Franklin in a big way with a near-total reload in that regard.
13b. Huff’s Marshall squad beat Notre Dame in 2022, and he has beaten former co-workers Pry (24-17, a few weeks ago) and Rahne (in ’22 and ’23). Huff’s name has surfaced as a legit candidate for the vacant Michigan State HC job, now officially open after Mel Tucker was fired last week. A season at Western Michigan — where he coached RBs and former Penn State assistant Bill Kenney coached, and still coaches, the OL — should help Huff, 40, if he interviews for the MSU gig.
14. Huff was at Penn State in 2016, when Penn State experienced a White Out hangover in West Lafayette, Indiana, similar to the one it had on Saturday vs. Northwestern. Penn State was tied with Purdue 17-17 at the half of that game, but scored 45 points in the final quarters to trounce the Boilermakers.
14a. Purdue then and NW now both had/have young interim head coaches; in the Wildcats’ case, it is David Braun. Braun, who is in his mid-30s, was previously at FCS power North Dakota State, where he was FCS coordinator of the year in 2021. He joined Northwestern’s staff in the offseason. He’s succeeded longtime Northwestern HC Pat Fitzgerald, who was fired following a team hazing scandal. (Purdue’s interim HC in 2016 was Gerad Parker, 35 at the time; he coached the PSU WR’s in 2019 and is now the OC at Notre Dame.)
14b. I figured Penn State’s offense would look much better in the second half. Just letting you know that I tweeted about the 2016 PSU-Purdue game at halftime on Saturday….when the score was 10-10.
15. The night before that Purdue game in 2016, Franklin handed out juice boxes to all the players so they “would bring the juice.” James back then, after beating the Boilermakers: “We actually even gave them juice boxes, like my daughter drinks. We tried everything. But I didn’t feel like that was an issue. I’ve been around teams where they’re jacked in pregame and then you don’t play that way. And I’ve seen the opposite.”
16a. The year is now 2023. Sounds like an NIL deal in the making. (For snacks, nothing goes better with juice boxes than Cheez-Its and Pop-Tarts.)
16. Speaking of slow starts: Penn State has scored just 33 points in the first quarter in 2023, only 15.8% of its overall 208 points. You think that’s bad? In 2016, when Penn State went 11-3 and won the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions scored only 68 of its overall 526 points in the first quarter (13%).
Penn State First Quarter Scoring
2016 (68) — 3, 7, 7, 0, 0, 7, 0, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 7 and 0
2023 (33) — 7, 14, 6, 3, 3
16a. Penn State’s offense in 2016 was all big plays. Penn State’s offense in 2023 is the exact opposite. Same journey, different roads…with the 2023 destination tbd.
17. Penn State still leads the country in “turnovers lost,” with only one. PSU is tied with Oregon. That one would be Nick Singleton’s fumble on the opening kickoff. He lost two fumbles in 2022 — both against Northwestern.
17a. Singleton rebounded though, and led the Nittany Lions in rushing, with 21 rushes for 80 yards, and receiving (six for 39 yards). He had two TDs: a 2-yard catch and a 1-yard run. He has seven touchdowns in 2023, ranking him No. 11 in the country, and he ranks No. 44 in the nation in scoring, at 8.4 ppg. Singleton’s performance was important, as RB Kaytron Allen left midway through the game with an injury.
17b. RB Trey Potts is a great success story. On Saturday he scored two TDs, had three runs for 21 yards and did everything crisply, from block to split wide as a receiver. He is from Williamsport and transferred from Minnesota, where he had over 1,000 career yards rushing. He is upbeat, experienced, smart, versatile — he has TD catch, a TD run and a TD pass in 2023. He was a terrific portal pick-up.
18. Here are two more excellent portal pick-ups for Penn State and ST coordinator Stacy Collins: P Riley Thompson (Florida Atlantic) and PK Alex Felkins (Columbia) arrived in the offseason, and have supplanted scholarshipped roster guys to take over the starting role with little fanfare.
After a poor start by PK Sander Sahyadak, Felkins put his best foot forward and has made 7 of 9 field goals — three over 40 yards with a long of 47. He is 23 of 23 on PATs and ranks No. 21 nationally in scoring, at 8.8 ppg. Thompson is an Australian punter — by birth and by form — and is averaging 42.6 yards on 18 punts. He has not had a punt blocked.
19. Penn State continues to be the turnover king of college football. Penn State is No. 1 in passes had intercepted (0), No. 1 in turnover margin (+2.2) and tied for No. 1 in turnovers lost (1, with Oregon). DB Daequan Hardy, back from exile, had an interception late in the game. Not to be picky, but Northwestern’s back-up QB, Brendan Sullivan, threw the ball right into Hardy’s hands. Penn State converted the turnover into a TD on Beau Pribula’s 30-yard pass to Potts.
19a. The pick was big among bettors. The TD gave Penn State its final 41-13 lead — 28 points, just covering the 27.5-point spread.
19b. Northwestern had 13 possessions. Here’s how the Mildcats fared:
• 4 drives with negative yards (one did yield a FG)
• 5 drives with had 9 yards or less
• 2 10-play drives resulted in a TD and a FG
• 1 drive ended in the interception
• 1 drive ended the game
20. The biggest takeaway at Ryan Field on Saturday came when a Northwestern student walked away with a two-year lease on a new car and $250. During one of the many timeouts during the game, the student made field goals from 20, 30 and 40 yards.
21. Watch the 60-second takeaway of the game from Penn State student broadcasters Jacob Schnur and Jacob Bartoskik, who called the game for the Bellisario College of Communications’ student radio station CommRadio — heard exclusively online. (Note the steady camera work from yours truly.)
22. The roadtrip went off without a snag, thanks for asking. On Saturday morning my alarm went off at 3 a.m. and three quick cups of coffee with ample amounts of half & half — sorry, James Franklin — fueled my drive to Harrisburg. 322 was almost totally empty.
My flight to Chicago left Harrisburg on time, and the trip there was without incident. I took taxis to/from Ryan Field (I’m not a big Uber guy) and with no rental car to drop off, navigating O’Hare was easy — and always visually stunning.
The game ended at 2:18 p.m. local time, so even after postgame interviews, I had three hours to get from Evanston to O’Hare. The trip is less than 40 minutes, so after the game I arrived in plenty of time for my 6:30 p.m. flight home…and a well-deserved beverage. Although the airplane took off a half-hour late, I made it back to Harrisburg — and then home — on time. All in a day’s work.
