NCAAF Game Recap - Nebraska at Penn State
Sat Nov 18, 2017 4:00 PM EST

Mer
0
Bama
56
F
UVA
28
MiaFL
44
F
Okla
41
Kans
3
F
Cit
3
Clem
61
F
Mich
10
Wisc
24
F
ULMon
14
Aub
42
F
KY
13
UGA
42
F
Ill
14
OSU
52
F
Navy
17
ND
24
F
K St
45
OkSt
40
F
TCU
27
TxTch
3
F
UCLA
23
USC
28
F
Neb
44
PSU
56
F
UCF
45
Temp
19
F
Utah
30
Wash
33
F
MissSt
28
Ark
21
F
SMU
45
Mem
66
F
Cal
14
Stan
17
F
LSU
30
Tenn
10
F
MD
7
MSU
17
F
Tuls
20
SoFL
27
F
Tex
28
WVU
14
F
NCSt
24
Wake
30
F
C Mi
42
Kent
23
F
Ohio
34
Akr
37
F
WestMI
31
NIU
35
F
E Mi
27
MiaOH
24
F
Toled
66
BGSU
37
F
Buff
40
Ball
24
F
TnSt
6
JacSt
36
F
MidTN
38
W Ky
41
F(2OT)
UNLV
38
NM
35
F
Cin
20
ECU
48
F
Lib
19
ChaSo
20
F
JMU
31
Elon
3
F
MIN
0
NW
39
F
Rut
0
Ind
41
F
DelSt
6
FlaSt
77
F
Pitt
14
VaTec
20
F
Fres
13
Wyo
7
F
HBU
33
SamHu
53
F
Rice
21
OD
24
F
IASt
23
Bayl
13
F
Hawaii
0
UtSt
38
F
TxSt
12
ArkSt
30
F
SoAl
0
GaSo
52
F
AzSt
40
OreSt
24
F
LT
42
UTEP
21
F
UMass
16
BYU
10
F
UNCC
21
SMiss
66
F
WCU
10
UNC
65
F
SJSU
14
ColSt
42
F
Purd
24
Iowa
15
F
Syr
10
Lou
56
F
GATec
20
Duke
43
F
Hou
17
Tul
20
F
Wof
10
SCar
31
F
UAB
7
Fla
36
F
CoCar
13
Idaho
7
F
NMS
34
ULLaf
47
F
Army
49
NorTx
52
F
Ariz
28
Oreg
48
F
Marsh
7
UTSA
9
F
TxAM
31
Miss
24
F
FLInt
24
FlAtl
52
F
BC
39
UConn
16
F
MIZ
45
Vand
17
F
AF
19
Boise
44
F
NEV
23
SDSU
42
F
BGSU
31
E Mi
34
F
MiaOH
28
Ball
7
F
Kent
14
Akr
24
F

Nov 18, 2017, 4:00 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Nebraska (4-7)

10

0

14

20

44

(13) Penn State (9-2)

14

28

0

14

56

Barkley sets Penn State TD record in 56-44 win over Nebraska
Sat Nov 18, 2017 9:48 PM

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) Still a junior, Penn State's Saquon Barkley wasn't included Saturday in the Senior Day festivities even though it might've been his final game in Happy Valley, too.

If Penn State's 56-44 victory over Nebraska was indeed it for Barkley - who'll be coveted by the NFL should he decide to forego his senior season - the Heisman Trophy candidate put on a memorable performance.

Barkley broke Penn State's career touchdown record with three scores and had 208 of 224 total yards in the first half to lead the No. 13 Nittany Lions to their 18th win in 21 games. Barkley passed Lydell Mitchell for the record with his 39th touchdown.

Trace McSorley ran for a touchdown and threw for 325 yards on 24-of-36 passing with three touchdown passes for Penn State (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten). Mike Gesicki caught two scoring passes and became Penn State's career touchdowns leader by a tight end with 13, and DeAndre Thompkins also had a touchdown catch in the highest-scoring game in Beaver Stadium history.

Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens added a touchdown pass to tight end Nick Bowers to help the Nittany Lions go unbeaten at Beaver Stadium for the second straight season. Penn State's 609 yards of offense were the most by a Nittany Lion team since it put 661 on Rutgers in 1995.

"The first half was probably the best half of football we've played," McSorley said.

Nebraska's Tanner Lee returned from concussion protocol to complete 26 of 41 passes for 399 yards and three touchdowns.

Morgan Stanley Jr. caught seven passes for 185 yards and a touchdown for Nebraska (4-7, 3-5). De'Mornay Pierson-El and Jack Stoll added touchdown catches for the Cornhuskers, who outscored Penn State 34-14 in the second half after trailing 42-10 at halftime.

"We just got off to a horrible start in the game and Penn State was real good," Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. "(Barkley) made a big run early that set us off in a bad way. It got out of hand like that right off the bat."

Devine Ozigbo and MIkale Wilbon ran for touchdowns and Drew Brown added a 23-yard field goal for the Cornhuskers. They will miss out on a bowl game for the first time since the 2007 season.

It didn't take Barkley long to snap out of a recent rushing funk. The Heisman Trophy candidate broke his streak of three games with 63 rushing yards or less when he galloped 65 yards down the sideline on his first carry.

Barkley gave Penn State the lead for good with a 1-yard plunge late in the first quarter to make it 14-10 and passed Mitchell on an 8-yard run up the middle in the second.

Nebraska took advantage of two short fields to pull ahead 10-7 early.

The Cornhuskers recovered a punt that hit a Penn State player and Brown made a short field goal eight plays later. A shanked Blake Gillikin punt gave the Cornhuskers the ball in Penn State territory again and Ozigbo capped a short drive with a 1-yard scoring run that gave Nebraska a 10-7 lead with 6:17 to play in the first.

Nebraska managed just seven yards of offense the rest of the half and went 3-and-out six times, with five in a row to end the half.

But Lee had plenty left and led five touchdown drives on the Cornhuskers' final seven possessions.

"The second half, obviously it leaves a bad taste in your mouth, offense and defense," Penn State coach James Franklin said. "We didn't play up to our standard at the end."

BETTER THAN LYDELL?

Barkley passed a man who has always been regarded as one of, if not, the best player to wear a Nittany Lion uniform.

Former coach Joe Paterno used to refer to Mitchell, who was an All-American in 1971, finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting that season and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004, as the best player he ever coached.

Franklin could likely say the same about Barkley who's put highlight after highlight on tape in his three seasons. Franklin gave Barkley his opinion before the season about what he should do next but wouldn't reveal that to reporters after the game.

"If I think they should leave early now, then I tell them that," Franklin said. "If IBM came to our computer engineering department and offered a junior a $12 million contract, they'd be gone."

Barkley remained mum on his future afterward.

"To be honest, I'm not really thinking about the future right now," he said.

WIDEOUT DUO SHINES

Until this season, Nebraska never had two receivers reach the 800-yard mark. Stanley and Spielman have ended that drought and should give the Cornhuskers hope that the offense has playmakers on the outside moving forward.

Spielman bounced back from an apparent early shoulder injury to finish with six catches for 96 yards.

THE TAKEAWAY

Nebraska: The loss knocked the Cornhuskers out of bowl contention and speculation about head coach Mike Riley's job security will likely ramp up in the coming days. Nebraska has lost five of six and allowed a combined 235 points in those defeats.

Penn State: The Nittany Lions got a confidence boost for what had become a one-dimensional offense lately and delivered a big blow in the series. Their 56 points are the most a Penn State team has put on a Nebraska squad ever, surpassing a 40-7 win in 2002.

UP NEXT

Nebraska hosts Iowa on Saturday.

Penn State travels to Maryland on Saturday.

---

More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

Neb Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
T. Lee 41 26 63.4 3 399 51 0 119.9
PSU Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
T. McSorley 36 24 66.7 3 325 43 0 123.0
T. Stevens 3 2 66.7 1 21 15 0 126.4

Rushing

Neb Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
M. Wilbon 10 53 5.3 24 2
D. Ozigbo 7 12 1.7 5 1
PSU Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
S. Barkley 17 158 9.3 65 3
T. McSorley 9 46 5.1 10 1

Receiving

Neb Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
S. Morgan Jr. 7 185 26.4 51 1
J. Spielman 6 96 16.0 31 0
PSU Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
J. Johnson 5 105 21.0 43 0
S. Barkley 6 66 11.0 24 0

Fumbles

Returning

Neb KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
J. Bradley 3 27.0 0 31 0 0 0
J. Spielman 1 23.0 0 23 0 0 0
PSU KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
K. Farmer 2 11.0 0 12 0 0 0
B. Polk 2 27.5 0 34 0 0 0

Punting

Neb Punt Yds Avg LgPu
C. Lightbourn 8 339 42.4 53
PSU Punt Yds Avg LgPu
B. Gillikin 4 158 39.5 56

Takeaways

Team Stats Comparison

Neb PSU
Points For 44 56
Total Yards 466 609
Rushing Yards 67 263
Passing Yards 399 346
Passing Completions / Attempts 26/41 26/39
Turnovers 0 1
Interceptions Thrown 0 0
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 1/1
First Downs 21 32
Penalties - Yards 9/89 5/39
Time Of Possession 49:49 11:11
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 5/15 8/12
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 1/1 0/0
Punts - Average Yards 8/42 4/40

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter Neb PSU
PSU 00:57 TD Saquon Barkley 65 yd run (Tyler Davis kick) 0 7
Neb 05:42 FG Drew Brown 27 yd FG 3 7
Neb 08:43 TD Devine Ozigbo 1 yd run (Drew Brown kick) 10 7
PSU 12:20 TD Saquon Barkley 1 yd run (Tyler Davis kick) 10 14
2nd Quarter Neb PSU
PSU 03:07 TD Trace McSorley 9 yd run (Tyler Davis kick) 10 21
PSU 05:37 TD Mike Gesicki 9 yd pass from Trace McSorley (Tyler Davis kick) 10 28
PSU 10:24 TD Saquon Barkley 8 yd run (Tyler Davis kick) 10 35
PSU 13:41 TD DeAndre Thompkins 15 yd pass from Trace McSorley (Tyler Davis kick) 10 42
3rd Quarter Neb PSU
Neb 08:20 TD Mikale Wilbon 24 yd run (Drew Brown kick) 17 42
Neb 12:26 TD De'Mornay Pierson-El 22 yd pass from Tanner Lee (Drew Brown kick) 24 42
4th Quarter Neb PSU
PSU 01:01 TD Mike Gesicki 17 yd pass from Trace McSorley (Tyler Davis kick) 24 49
PSU 04:47 TD Nick Bowers 15 yd pass from Tommy Stevens (Tyler Davis kick) 24 56
Neb 08:28 TD Stanley Morgan Jr. 8 yd pass from Tanner Lee (Drew Brown kick) 31 56
Neb 13:40 TD Mikale Wilbon 1 yd run (Drew Brown kick) 38 56
Neb 15:00 TD Jack Stoll 3 yd pass from Tanner Lee 44 56

Game Information

Stadium: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 106,722
Game Time:
Weather: