Oct 24, 2017

Big Ten & SEC Week 8 Recap: Favorites Roll as Corso Crowd Surfs at PSU

Standings and Results

Big Ten

SEC

AP Top 10

1. Alabama
2. Penn State
3. Georgia
4. TCU
5. Wisconsin
6. Ohio State
7. Clemson
8. Miami
9. Notre Dame
10. Oklahoma

Penn State Shines in Whiteout

College GameDay made its first visit to Penn State since 2009 for the second-ranked Nittany Lions’ whiteout game against No. 19 Michigan. The campus was undoubtedly hyped, but Coach Corso was there to take them to the next level.

It didn’t take long for Penn State to get Beaver Stadium’s record crowd of 110,823 excited, as Heisman hopeful running back Saquon Barkley took the game’s second snap 69 yards to paydirt to put the Nittany Lions up 7-0.

After forcing a three-and-out, the Nittany Lion offense powered down the field once more to go up 14-0 after Barkley tallied his second score of the game. The Nittany Lions continued their early defensive domination, keeping the Wolverines off the scoreboard in the first quarter. Through seven games, Penn State has still yet to allow a first-quarter point.

After another quick stall, the Michigan defense provided some momentum for their offense, intercepting a Trace McSorley pass inside their own red zone and returning it close to midfield to set the Wolverines offense up with good field position. An 11-play, 59-yard drive ending with a Karan Higdon one-yard scamper cut the deficit to one score.

Two more defensive stops by Michigan gave the offense a chance to pull even, and Ty Isaac closed out a drive with a six-yard touchdown run to pull to make the score 14-13 with under two minutes left in the first half.

Penn State responded with a quick 72-yard touchdown drive that burned just 42 seconds off the clock, handing Michigan one last first-half drive, but the defense held, giving the Nittany Lions a 21-13 lead at the break.

From there, Penn State took over, and finished the game with 506 yards — the most allowed by Michigan since 2015 — as well as seven sacks on the defensive side of the ball, their most since 2011. McSorley ran for two more scores to give him three total, the most by a Nittany Lion quarterback in over 35 years.

Barkley put the game out of reach on Penn State’s first drive of the fourth quarter, when he made a juggling catch along the sidelines and into the end zone to put Penn State up by three touchdowns.

The Nittany Lions head into Columbus for a faceoff with No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes next week.

Rutgers Edges Boilermakers

Between the Big Ten and SEC conference games this week, only one matchup saw the underdog defeat the favorite — Rutgers defeating Purdue, 14-12.

In that game, Rutgers took an early 14-3 lead before a late Purdue touchdown gave the Boilermakers a chance to tie the game on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt with 25 ticks left on the clock.

The Scarlet Knights held the Boilermaker offense out of the end zone on the attempt, securing their second straight Big Ten victory and first conference win streak since joining in 2014.

Favorites Roll in Week 8

Aside from that game, the favorites didn’t just win — they handled their business rather easily. In the four SEC matchups, the favorites won by an average margin of victory of 31 points. If you include Missouri’s 47-point victory over Idaho that margin of victory jumps up to 34.2.

The Big Ten was a little closer, with four of the predicted winners edging out their opponents in one-score games, including Northwestern’s 17-10 overtime victory over Iowa. But the average margin of victory was still 15.2 due to convincing wins by Penn State and Wisconsin.

The overtime game in Evanston remained 0-0 from the opening kickoff until Nathan Stanley and Noah Fant connected for a seven-yard touchdown pass with 40 seconds remaining in the first half. The Wildcats tied it up in the third before both teams exchanged field goals in the fourth quarter, with Iowa’s kick tying the game with 90 seconds to play.

In overtime, Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson put the Wildcats ahead with a one-yard run before Iowa had the chance to respond on their first overtime possession. The Wildcats held tough stopping the Hawkeyes to get the win.

 

Team Selection Committee Recap

The Florida Citrus Sports Team Selection Committee did not meet this morning due to Camping World Stadium being used as a distribution center for the Florida Disaster Food Assistance Program this week. The committee will reconvene next Monday and discuss the happenings from Week 8 and Week 9. You can catch up with their reports from last week by reading the Team Selection Committee Recap from Week 7. READ MORE >>>

Play of the Week

Week 7 was filled with several memorable plays. We picked two of our favorites and want to see which one our readers thought was more impressive. Take a look at each and cast your vote.

1) Purdue catches Rutgers off guard with a fake flea flicker for a big gain

2) Auburn digs deep into their bag of tricks to pull out a wide receiver pass off of an end around going for 62 yards to Darius Slayton for a touchdown.

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