The Sunday Afternoon Quarterback #16: Record Setting Cotton Bowl

We are back after a 9 day holiday blogging break and what a break it was! I will share more this week about my holiday travels and festivities. But for now, Jeff is back as the Saturday Afternoon Quarterback with his recap of yesterday’s Cotton Bowl played at At&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

#10 Penn State Nittany Lions 53 – #17 Memphis Tigers 39

Penn State entered the Cotton Bowl yesterday with an overall record of 2-0-1 in that particular bowl game. When the Nittany Lions made their first Cotton Bowl appearance in 1948, the game was marked with racial bigotry. Penn State featured two African-American athletes on their team that year and in the days leading up to the Cotton Bowl, they were asked to leave these particular players in Pennsylvania for this game.

Dallas at the time was a segregated city ripe with the “Jim Crow” laws of the deep south. The Cotton Bowl itself had never allowed a black player in the game until 1948. In a team meeting about whether Penn State would bring black players with them, All-American guard Steve Suhey stood up and pronounced, “We are Penn State,” and either the whole team goes or the whole team stays home.

Southern Methodist coach Matty Bell supported the decision that all players from Penn State would attend the game and the Cotton Bowl administrators reluctantly accepted this decision. However, since Dallas hotels remained segregated, the Penn State players were housed in a Naval Air Station base during their stay in Texas. The game would be played and ended up being a defensive battle which resulted in a 13-13 tie with Wally Triplett (one of Penn State’s African-American players) scoring the game tying touchdown. For the 2019 Cotton Bowl game, Penn State honored the 1948 team and Triplett himself by wearing customized helmet decals. Perhaps honoring this pivotal moment in college football history acted like a lucky charm for Penn State and led them to a Cotton Bowl win in 2019.

Memphis would strike first on the second series of the game using a 40 yard pass to move the ball down field and set them up for a 48 yard Riley Patterson field goal. Memphis 3-0.

Penn State needed only three plays to recover the lead. Sean Clifford came out firing on the first two plays, hitting Jahan Dotson for a 12 yard gain and KJ Hamler for a 31 yard completion. Journey Brown would pulverize the defense on his first carry of the game, a 32 yard touchdown run. Brown finished the game with 202 yards on the ground, setting a Penn State bowl game record. Penn State 7-3.

The Tigers answered on their next drive with Kedarian Jones hauling in a 56 yard pass to set up Memphis in the red zone. Patrick Taylor, Jr. finished the drive with a 3 yard run for the score. Memphis 10-7.

Penn State punted on their next possession and Memphis again drove down the field but settled for another Patterson field goal. Memphis 13-7.

The teams traded punts before the ground game got the Nittany Lions moving again. Noah Cain, coming back from injury, found pay dirt from 1 yard out to give Penn State a lead it would never relinquish. Penn State 14-13.

Following another punt, Sean Clifford needed only four plays to find the end zone again. Clifford connected with Pat Freiermuth for a 19 yard completion and Devyn Ford carried it in from 1 yard out on the next play for the score. Penn State 21-13.

Another Tigers punt and a one play 56 yard run by Journey Brown added to the Lions score. Penn State 28-13.

Memphis found their offense on the next drive with Brady White hitting Damonte Coxie for 41 yards before Kenneth Gainwell scored from a yard out. Penn State 28-20.

Ricky Slade started the Nittany Lions next drive with a 44 yard gain on the ground. The drive culminated with a 4 yard touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson. Penn State 35-20.

Riley Patterson claimed the last points of the half with his third field goal of the half. Penn State 35-23.

Memphis opened the half with a 6 play 75 yard drive that ended with Brady White running it in from 1 yard out. Penn State 35-30.

Clifford’s interception gave Memphis great field position but the Nittany Lion defense dug in allowing another Patterson field goal, a Cotton Bowl record setting 51 yard field goal to be more precise. Penn State 35-33.

Jake Pinegar added to the Penn State lead on the next possession making his only field goal attempt of the game a 45 yard kick. Penn State 38-33.

Memphis answered on the next possession with Patterson hitting his fifth field goal of the game, a 41 yard kick. Penn State 38-36.

Brown again shouldered the load on the ground starting the drive with a 44 yard run. The drive ended on a 4th and 1 stop by the Tiger defense. Micah Parsons, the defensive MVP of the game, sacked White and the ball popped out and into the waiting arms of Garrett Taylor who would return it 15 yards for the score. Penn State 45-36.

Riley Patterson tacked on the final points for Memphis on the next drive hitting his record sixth field goal, a 42 yard kick. Penn State 45-39.

Noah Cain would cap off a 75 yard drive with his second touchdown of the game and Clifford hooked up with Pat Freiermuth for the 2 point conversion. Final Score: Penn State 53-39.

Penn State’s 35 points on the scoreboard at the half set a Cotton Bowl record along with the 92 points scored by both teams. Penn State churned out 396 yards on the ground, another Penn State bowl game record. Penn State will finish the season with an 11-2 record, a New Year’s Six Bowl win, and a top 10 final finish in the polls.

Until the 2020-2021 season, we are…

Keeping it on the edge,

Jeff and Shelbee

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Outfit Details: Penn State Jersey-borrowed from Jeff / Dress-Kohl’s / Tights and Coat-Thrifted / Socks-Amazon (Exact) / Shoes-Madden Girl (DSW) / Earrings-c/o Anjolee