The Penn State defense wasn’t at its best Saturday.
In fact, it was about as bad as it’s been all season.
Penn State allowed 36 points— only six fewer than its season-high— and it likely would have been more if Rutgers didn’t unsuccessfully try for a fake field goal in the first quarter.
The 533 yards of total offense Penn State allowed were the most it had in all 12 regular-season games.
Interim coach Terry Smith is known as the “ultimate truth teller,” and he didn’t pull any punches when assessing his defenses performance in the postgame press conference.
“That played horribly,” Smith said. “We just have to go back and watch the film and reevaluate why it happened that way.”
But Smith also pointed out what the defense did to help Penn State get a win and secure bowl eligibility.
“When your best was required, you gave us your best,” Smith told the defense in the postgame locker room.
With Rutgers up 36-33 and driving down to the PSU 32 late, a mysterious fumble by Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis led to a scoop and score that put Penn State back in front with 7:27 left.
Penn State’s defense then had to go back on the field, and again, Rutgers didn’t make it easy, driving to the Penn State 26.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.On a 4th and 1, Zion Tracy stopped Kalakmanis on a QB run, giving PSU the ball with 3:55 left.
Rutgers didn’t get the ball back.
There were multiple times this season when the defense had a chance to close out the game and didn’t. Against Oregon Sept. 27, PSU needed a stop in overtime to seal the win.
It didn’t happen.
In losses to Northwestern and Iowa, Penn State led in the fourth quarter, but in each case, the defense allowed the go-ahead score which turned into the winning score.
Against Indiana, PSU needed one stop to win, and if not for a highlight-reel catch by Omar Cooper Jr., it may have gotten that stop.
To quote Yogi Berra, it looked like “Deja vu all over again” when Rutgers’ KJ Duff made a similarly difficult catch.
But this movie had a different ending, and as a result, Penn State is going bowling.
