Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback #12: Chaos Reigns During Rivalry Week

#12 Penn State Nittany Lions 38 – Maryland Terrapins 3

Welcome to the twelfth episode of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback! I finally invested in some new fan gear with this cute Penn State fleece that I found in my local Target in Northern New York, which is a really weird place to find Penn State fan gear. But I sure am happy to have it. It is super comfortable and very warm for this snow covered place. Turning it over now to my husband, the Sunday Morning Quarterback.

Rivalry week is the final week of the reguar season of college football. This week traditionally pits long time rivals against each other such as Ohio State versus Michigan, Arizona versus Arizona State, Georgia versus Georgia Tech, and Auburn versus Alabama, just to name a few. Some of these contests have been played over one hundred times and date back to the late 1890’s. Teams that are having down years look at this week as a way to end the season on a good note. Penn State would draw Maryland for this week. Although not a traditional rivalry for the Nittany Lions, the Terrapins have turned it into their own personal rivalry. Penn State currently sports a 39-2-1 lifetime record against the Terrapins. Along with it being rivalry week for the home team, it is also Senior Day and Penn State was hoping to send off their 21 seniors with one final win at Beaver Stadium.

Penn State would receive the opening kickoff and would only take four plays to hit paydirt. McSorley would hit KJ Hamler on the first play for a 34 yard completion, followed by a Miles Sanders run of 35 yards to the Maryland 5 yard line. Two plays later McSorley would take it in himself from 3 yards out and a 7-0 lead. Trading punts over the next two series, Maryland would score its only points of the game on their next series. Tyrrell Pigrome would connect with Brian Cobbs for a 48 yard pass completion to the Nittany Lions 13 yard line, but the defense would dig in and only allow a 26 yard field goal by Joseph Petrino, cutting the lead to 7-3. McSorley would answer on the next drive going 75 yards in 8 plays capped off by McSorley going in himself from 20 yards out and extending the Lions lead to 14-3. Three punts would follow before the Nittany Lions would strike again. Mixing an even balance of the pass game with the run game would result in a 25 yard Jake Pinegar field goal and a 17-3 Penn State lead. Maryland would punt again giving Penn State the ball with :34 left in the half. Penn State would run out of time at the half but not before executing a beautiful hook and ladder play for 44 yards. Halftime would see the score remain 17-3 in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Maryland received the second half kickoff but would go three and out. Starting at their own 14 yard line, Miles Sanders and Ricky Slade would pound the ball down the Terrapins throat for 58 yards of the drive before Slade would take it in from 8 yards out giving the Lions a 24-3 lead. The Terrapins would be forced to punt again giving Penn State the ball at their own 24 yard line. The Lions drove to the Maryland 28 yard line before a Miles Sanders fumble would end the drive. Pigrome would lead Maryland down the field but a missed field goal ended the drive. Penn State would turn the miss into points driving 80 yards in 6 plays with McSorley throwing for 53 yards on the drive and the final pass hitting Pat Freiermuth for a 5 yard touchdown and a 31-3 lead. Another Terrapin punt turned into a 7 play 72 yard drive lead by Tommy Stevens and ending in a 1 yard touchdown run by Ricky Slade and the final score of the day, Penn State 38-Maryland 3.

Congratulations to all the seniors who went out winners at their final game at Beaver Stadium. These seniors were the first recruiting class by James Franklin who elected to sign with Penn State during the sanctions era and led them to a BIG TEN championship and pending bowl selections a possible third straight New Years Six bowl game. Until selection day…

We Are…

Keeping it on the edge,

Jeff (and Shelbee)

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