Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback #2: A Tale of Two Halves

September 9, 2018 / 16 Comments
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#13 Penn State Nittany Lions 51-Pittsburgh Panthers 6

Welcome to the second episode of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback. Turning it right over to my husband to recap the highlights from last night’s Penn State game.

A Tale of Two Halves

Penn State has played Pittsburgh more times than any other team in the history of their football program. The only team that Pittsburgh has played more times than Penn State is West Virginia. Due to the long history between the two Pennsylvania teams, they have become bitter state rivals. The rivalry was on a 16 year hiatus, but was renewed in 2016 when Pittsburgh intercepted Trace McSorley in the end zone to seal a 42-39 win.

Last year, I attended the Pittsburgh game at Beaver Stadium and watched PSU come away with a 33-14 win. So bring on the 2018-2019 season…the 99th meeting between these two teams was an ugly rain soaked mess with both teams’ performances in the first half seeming to mirror the weather at Heinz Field.  After an opening series punt by Pitt, Penn State responded when KJ Hamler took the handoff on the jet sweep and took 32 yards to the house untouched. Watching Hamler play reminded me of Derrick Williams on the field.  Pitt would answer on the next series with a 13 yard run but would miss the extra point. From that point forward, Pitt wouldn’t see the end zone the rest of the night.

The next eight series between both teams would result in two missed field goals, five turnovers, and a punt before McSorley and Hamler would connect again on a 14 yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds to go in the half.  The Penn State defense surrendered over 450 yards last week and had given up 214 rushing yards in the first half to Pitt. I am thinking they definitely need some improvement there if they hope to contend for another Big Ten Championship this year.  Let’s move on to the second half…..

After the teams traded punts to open the second half, Penn State would strike with Trace McSorley keeping it himself and taking it in for the score.  Now the Penn State defense would take over and hold Pitt to a total of negative seven yards for the 3rd quarter.  The Penn State offense, defense, and special teams would take complete control of the game in the second half as all three would help in out-scoring Pitt 37-0.  The defense would record a safety, DeAndre Thompkins returned a punt 39 yards for a touchdown, and 3rd string quarterback Sean Clifford would throw a 34 yard touchdown to Brandon Polk on his first ever collegiate throw to close out the offensive scoring for the Nittany Lions. This game was certainly a tale of two halves for the Nittany Lions.  Tune in next week for the third edition of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback as I’ll be covering the Kent State game from Beaver Stadium, personally in attendance with our 7 year old son. It will be a big day for us as it is Archie’s very first live and in person Penn State game at Beaver Stadium. This guy is a very happy dad.

We Are…

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

My husband, Jeff, is a lifelong Penn State fan and chronic armchair quarterback. By default the rest of our family is Penn State fans as well. We have many choices in life, this is not one of them. We are…

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Ups.

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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16 Comments

  • Patrick Weseman

    September 9, 2018 at 2:53 pm Reply

    Very nice. I watched some of it as I was channel hopping and waiting for Cal to come on at 7:00pm local. Penn St. looked good in the second half. Cal won but their offense looked bad (again) and they almost gave the game away (again).

    Have a great Sunday.

  • Susan

    September 9, 2018 at 4:21 pm Reply

    As usual, I have much to say…
    First, Penn State won, as they should have. They did good, although I was a bit nervous at first, in all honesty. But then the bottom fell out on Pittsburgh, and my blue and white boys b*tch-slapped those panthers HARD! As it should be. Hail to the Lion!

    I was very happy to see this for many reasons. First of all, how DARE those panthers wear blue and gold? Those are the colors of the UofD Fightin’ Blue Hens, which in real life ARE actually blue and gold-ish. Everyone knows there is no such thing as a blue and gold panther, unless it’s a panther that likes Liberace a bit too much. Although I commend the panthers for not wearing black and yellow like their steelers counterparts, the giant football playing bumblebees, this is a travesty of epic proportions, and their losing asses must be stopped from corrupting the glorious blue/gold of the University of Delaware. People from other parts of the country might actually believe Delawareans sympathize with those losing felines, and take it from me, we don’t.

    Second, what sort of loser, ignores what his coach says and chooses tails? Or heads, I forget. I am speaking of the losing kitties choosing their own coin toss results, and SCREWING UP, Big time! Why even have a coach if you are gonna ignore him? Bad, Bad Kitty! I hope Pat Narduzzi squirts water in the kitties face to show them the error of their ways. Wayward kitty! Evil panther-kitty! You saw how well that little gamble turned out. Pardon me for smirking, but they got what they deserved.

    That being said, it’s gonna rain next weekend, (at least here it is), so Archie will be needing one of those umbrella hats for his cute little head, and he’s gonna need it in Penn State colors. I am sure that his attendance in person at the game, will spur those Lions to kick some more butt, and bring it home for us.

    Have a great time!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      September 10, 2018 at 10:17 am Reply

      Susan, all I can say is you are a riot! Such a great comment! I was laughing all the way through at your descriptions. I will make sure my husband has pictures from the game next week for me to share…especially if Archie is wearing an umbrella hat!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Lucy At Home

    September 18, 2018 at 8:16 pm Reply

    Haha I liked your comment at the end about not having a choice – I am English but, having married a Welshman, I am no longer permitted to support England in ANY rugby matches (and preferably not in any sport at all!) Hahaha. #blogcrush

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      September 18, 2018 at 11:30 pm Reply

      Oh my goodness, Lucy, that is so funny! So you have had to go against your entire home nation when it comes to sports! Ha! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this fun tidbit. I am glad to know that I am not the only one with no choice in which teams I support!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

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