Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback #17: Citrus Bowl Loss Sours McSorley’s Final Game

Welcome to the seventeenth episode of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback! Turning it over now to my husband, the Sunday Morning Quarterback, with a recap of last week’s Citrus Bowl where our beloved Penn State faced off against Kentucky.

Citrus Bowl Loss Sours McSorley’s Final Game

#14 Kentucky Wildcats 27 – #12 Penn State Nittany Lions 24

The final game of Trace McSorley’s career was supposed to end with another 10 win season, the chance to break 10,000 career passing yards and give Penn State its third consecutive 10 win season…a feat that hasn’t happened since the 1980-82 seasons and never since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten Conference. Unfortunately, none of those things came to fruition as it was Kentucky who would get its first 10 win season in forty years and walk off the field as victors on this New Year’s Day.

Penn State would receive the opening kickoff and would only muster 8 yards before Kentucky snuffed out a 4th and 2 fake punt at the Penn State 33 yard line. The Wildcats went to work with a short field and on 1st down, senior running back Benny Snell Jr. would take it for 16 yards to the 17 yard line. The Nittany Lion defense would stiffen though and on 4th and 2 Kentucky kicker Miles Butler would hit a 28 yard field goal and give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead. The teams traded punts over their next two possessions before Penn State would take over on their 46 yard line. Two completions to DeAndre Thompkins for 32 yards would help move the ball to the Kentucky 22 yard line following a sack by Josh Allen. Jake Pinegar would miss the 40 yard field goal after a bad snap and hold.

Special teams once again would prove disastrous on this day for the Nittany Lions. Kentucky still leading 3-0. Swapping punts again would work out for Kentucky as Blake Gilikin hammered a 56 yard punt to Lynn Bowden Jr. that he would return 58 yards for the score and give Kentucky a 10-0 lead. Penn State finally answered on the next series, engineering a 5 play 75 yard drive that accounted for 71 yards in. McSorley would ruck for 29 yards, hit KJ Hamler for a 41 yard reception before finding Nick Bowers for a 1 yard touchdown to cut the Kentucky lead to 10-7. Six of the next seven possessions would result in punts for both teams with one drive of Penn State’s ending in a blocked field goal. Jake Pinegar would line up for a 36 yard field goal that Josh Allen would get a hand on to change the direction of the kick. Kentucky leads at the half 10-7.

The Kentucky offense started rolling in the 3rd quarter and Benny Snell Jr. would get them started with a 32 yard gain on 1st down. A targeting penalty two plays later on Cam Brown would put the Wildcats at the Penn State 11 yard line. Snell would take it in from 2 yards out to increase the Wildcat lead to 17-7. Penn State would punt it away on its next series and Terry Wilson would take over, methodically moving the Wildcats down field for a 28 yard Miles Butler field goal and a 20-7 lead. McSorley would throw an errant deep pass that Lonnie Johnson Jr. intercepted and returned to the Kentucky 34 yard line. It would only take two plays for the Wildcats to find the end zone again.

Lynn Bowden Jr. hauled in a 54 yard pass from Wilson to set up Kentucky at the Penn State 12 yard line. On the very next play, Benny Snell Jr. rushed into the endzone for a 27-7 lead and into Kentucky history breaking the school’s all time career rushing record. The Penn State offense would start to get going as McSorley would engineer a 10 play 75 yard drive, taking it in himself from the 1 yard line and putting the lead to 27-14. The defense would hold Kentucky to a three and out giving Penn State the ball at the 40 yard line. McSorley would need six plays to reach paydirt again, the big one coming on a 24 yard completion to Jahan Dotson on a 3rd and 18.

On 2nd and 4 from the Kentucky 18, McSorley would find Pat Freiermuth in the endzone for the score. Kentucky 27-21. Another three and out would give McSorley the ball at the Penn State 39 yard line with 7:45 to go in the game. Did the wizard have enough magic left in him for one more drive? He would move them down field and on a 4th and 7 from the 14 yard line, Coach Franklin opted for a field goal and to play defense with his three timeouts. Jake Pinegar would come in and hit the 32 yarder, cutting the lead to 27-24 with 4:12 to go. Kentucky would manage two first downs causing Franklin to burn his timeouts. After a Kentucky punt, Penn State found itself with one second on the clock and 83 yards to go. They would try a hook and ladder that would be fumbled and recovered to end the game. Kentucky 27-24.

Congratulations to all the seniors and juniors who played their last game for the Nittany Lions on Monday. I will be covering the National Championship game in the final edition of Shelbee’s Sunday Morning Quarterback next week. So stay tuned for that recap. Until then…

We Are…

Keeping it on the edge,

Jeff (and Shelbee)

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