Blocked field goal against OSU fueled Penn State’s run

Associated Press

The double thump of foot hitting ball and then ball hitting hand. A perfect bounce. A race for the end zone barely won.

A blocked field goal in the fourth quarter against Ohio State changed Penn State’s season. The Nittany Lions have not lost since and Happy Valley is happier than it’s been with its football team in the five years since a scandal shook the program and the school.

Winning might not cure everything, but it certainly makes it easier to shift the focus away from lawsuits , statues and how best to commemorate anniversaries . For the first time in the post-Paterno, post-scandal era, the Nittany Lions are championship contenders. No. 8 Penn State (10-2, No. 7 CFP) makes its first appearance in the Big Ten championship game Saturday.

At the very least the game against No. 6 Wisconsin (10-2, No. 6 CFP) in Indianapolis will determine which team goes to the Rose Bowl.

Paterno was fired in 2011 after Jerry Sandusky, his former longtime assistant was arrested for sexually abusing children. Penn State football was sanctioned by the NCAA in 2012 and has been digging out since. The Nittany Lions had three straight 7-6 seasons before this year’s resurgence under third-year coach James Franklin.

And it all started with that blocked field-goal attempt against Ohio State.

Penn State had chipped a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit down to four, but the Buckeyes were looking to add another three with a 45-yard field goal with 4:39 left in the fourth quarter.

Ohio State had dawdled before sending kicker Tyler Durbin and the field-goal team on the field to try to extend the lead. By the time Durbin had stepped back into position, there were 4 seconds left on the play clock. Penn State defensive back Marcus Allen was 5 yards off the line of scrimmage. At the snap he broke toward the line, slipped through a crease on the left side, and leapt high with both arms raised.

Allen blocked the ball down and to the left. It bounced once, twice and a third time, and then Grant Haley, who had lined up on the far left, cradled it on the run. The defensive back had about a 5-yard head lead on Ohio State holder Cameron Johnston when they both broke into a sprint.

“Grant’s one of the fastest players on our team,” quarterback Trace McSorley said. “Once I saw him get the ball I knew he was going to be able to take it all the way.”