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First Posted: 11/2/2013 STATE COLLEGE &#8212; It was almost fitting that the final play of another inspiring home victory for Penn State wound up in the battered hands of Ryan Keiser.
Mainly because he has displayed the sheer willpower to overcome obstacles that is quickly becoming the new identity at Penn State.
He probably shouldn&#8217;t have been out there at safety Saturday, to wrap his casted left hand around a game-sealing overtime interception in the end zone which sent Beaver Stadium into bedlam over Penn State&#8217;s dramatic 24-17 comeback victory over Illinois.
&#8220;I used both hands,&#8221; Keiser corrected.
For a while, he felt fortunate to use one.
It was just five weeks ago Keiser suffered a broken hand in a victory over Kent State - before making his college interception that day.
&#8220;I was swinging it, I hit a guy&#8217;s legs,&#8221; Keiser said, recalling how the injury occurred that Sept. 21 day in Happy Valley. &#8220;Honestly, I didn&#8217;t have much pain at all. I just thought it was something I was able to play through.&#8221;
It wasn&#8217;t until after the game when doctors discovered his hand was fractured, and told him he wouldn&#8217;t be able to play at all for awhile.
Ryan Keiser stand on the sideline?
This is a red-shirt junior who played in all 29 games of his Penn State career before breaking his hand. This is the same player who was a three-year letterman at Selinsgrove High School who made all-state at defensive back as a junior and all-state at wide receiver as a high school senior, while catching 35 touchdowns on offense and picking off 13 passes on defensive.
So awhile turned out to be little more than a week&#8217;s worth of inactivity for Keiser.
He sat out a loss at Indiana, and after a bye week for Penn State, returned to the field to play in spots during the miraculous rally that brought the Nittany Lions a four-overtime, 43-40 victory against Michigan.
&#8220;It&#8217;s been healing a lot quicker than they expected,&#8221; Keiser said of his hand, which traded in the harder cast he wore the past two weeks for a much softer wrap for protection. &#8220;I think I&#8217;m coming along well, thanks to God. It feels great, 100 percent. We have great doctors, great trainers. I&#8217;m willing to step up and do what I have to do. All these guys in that locker room would play through this.
&#8220;I just want to help our team, whenever they need me.&#8221;
The Lions needed him in the end against Illinois.
After Penn State scored on a touchdown pass to open overtime Saturday, Illinois tried to answer quickly.
The Fighting Illini went Keiser&#8217;s way with their first play of overtime, with an deep pass to the corner of the end zone.
Lions safety Adrian Amos deflected it, but it was still anyone&#8217;s ball.
Keiser grabbed it for the interception, and the game was over.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like slow motion,&#8221; Keiser said. &#8220;The ball&#8217;s right there. You&#8217;ve just got to grab it and make a play.&#8221;
It&#8217;s a play Keiser became real familiar with this past week.
&#8220;We worked on that play in practice throughout the week, and we ended up getting it at the end of the game,&#8221; Keiser said of the tip drill. &#8220;Adrian went up and made a play on the ball. It came right to me. I just had to catch it. Adrian really made the play, I was able to finish it. This was the definition of a team win.
&#8220;It was awesome.&#8221;
It was awful for the Nittany Lions last week - especially those playing on defense - during a 63-14 pummeling by Ohio State.
But Penn State wasn&#8217;t about to get caught up in any carryover from that nightmare.
&#8220;We just come out every week and practice hard, play games hard every week,&#8221; Keiser said. &#8220;We want to get better, as a team, as a defense. We&#8217;re resilient.&#8221;
That resiliency was tested a lot by an Illinois team that rolled up 213 yards of offense in the first half, yet blew two potential touchdown passes to send Penn State into intermission with a 14-3 lead.
&#8220;We gave up three points in the first half,&#8221; Penn State coach Bill O&#8217;Brien bristled. &#8220;Isn&#8217;t it about the score?&#8221;
The score was Illinois 17, Penn State 14 when the Illini got the ball back on a Penn State fumble near the Illinois goal line with 3:23 remaining on the clock.
But after forcing a punt after three quick plays, Penn State got the ball back in good enough position, and with enough time remaining, go kick a tying field goal and force an overtime that Keiser ended by cradling his interception with a casted hand.
&#8220;The cool thing about our team is, we don&#8217;t get down,&#8221; Keiser said. &#8220;We knew we could still win the game. Look at Michigan - we&#8217;ve been through it before. We keep playing every single snap.
&#8220;We wanted to play as a team and made plays when we had to,&#8221; continued Keiser, who can&#8217;t remember ending a game with an interception in his football life. &#8220;We just went out there, had fun, flew around and made plays. To make the (final) play, it&#8217;s good. You&#8217;ve just got to hustle after the ball. It&#8217;s really a credit to the coaches. They tell us all the time, you never know when you&#8217;re going to have an opportunity to make the play.&#8221;

Keiser has a hand in Penn State’s fate