Penn State Football Team Wins Pinstripe Bowl, 31-30

Penn State football has had an up and down year. They ended on an up note.

Freshman wide receiver Chris Godwin caught a team-high seven passes for 140 yards and a touchdown as Penn State fought off a game Boston College team, winning 31-30, according to PennLive.

Godwin came into the game with just 198 yards receiving for the season, but Penn State lost regular starting wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton, who incurred a severe hamstring injury that made him unavailable for the last four weeks of the season. Godwin has come in, and in the Pinstripe Bowl, performed most reliably.

“We had Godwin in position to make some plays for us, he did,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said.

Godwin did most of his damage in the first half, catching four passes for 100 yards and a touchdown, which came on a 72-yard touchdown throw from Christian Hackenberg. Penn State’s offense spread the ball around, targeting eight receivers total, three of whom caught seven passes each. Hackenberg threw for over 300 yards, the first time he has done that since Penn State’s victory over Rutgers in September.

With all of the talk going to skill, it was ironic that it was a lucky missed extra point in overtime that won the game for the Nittany Lions. Lucky for Penn State, that is.

The New York Times is reporting that Boston College and Penn State fought to a 24-24 tie, after Penn State had been down 21-7. Boston College got the ball first in overtime, where quarterback Tyler Murphy threw a 21-yard touchdown to David Dudeck to make it 30-24. The extra point attempt by Mike Knoll sailed wide right. This was the eighth time Boston College had missed the extra point attempt.

On the Nittany Lions’ next possession, Hackenberg hit Kyle Carter for a 10-yard touchdown pass. Penn State kicker Sam Ficken hit the extra point, straight and true, to win the game for Penn State.

What makes the victory even more considerable is the fact that Penn State started the season not being eligible to play in a bowl game due to infractions that came from the end of the Joe Paterno-era involving Jerry Sandusky.

However, the NCAA in September decided that Penn State could indeed play in a bowl game if they qualified. The decision was made after George J. Mitchell, the NCAA appointee, convinced the NCAA they should be allowed to do so.

Penn State and Boston College both finish the year at 7-6.

[Image courtesy of app.com]