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In the Huddle with Paul Sokoloski: Sour finish in final home game proves to be perfect ending for Penn State’s Trevor Williams

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Special teams stalls Penn State’s momentum, again

<p>STATE COLLEGE &#8212; At one point, Penn State was willing to try putting nearly 2,500 pounds worth of blockers on the field to try and give Saquon Barkley a 3-yard path to the end zone.</p><p>It didn&#8217;t work.</p><p>Hammered up front all game long, the Nittany Lions trotted out an unbalanced line on second-and-goal against Michigan, putting an extra lineman and a tight end outside of the left tackle.</p><p>For good measure, they put 321-pound guard Derek Dowrey and 250-pound tight end Brent Wilkerson in the backfield as lead blockers.</p><p>Nada. There was no hole for Barkley, who was forced to scurry away to the right side of the formation shortly after the handoff before being dropped for a loss of 3.</p><p>That summed up Penn State&#8217;s misadventures in the red zone on Saturday against the Wolverines. Three times the Lions looked poised to strike for a big touchdown, only to come up short every time, settling for three deflating field goals in a 28-16 loss.</p><p>&#8220;You start adding up all those points, it&#8217;s been remarkable the way our defense has played,&#8221; Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t imagine anyone playing better in terms of red zone football. It&#8217;s a real strength for us.&#8221;</p><p>It showed.</p><p>Penn State tried sweeps. The wildcat. Fade passes and slants. But whether the Lions were in the shotgun or in a jumbo package, Michigan answered the bell.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got to give those guys credit,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;They&#8217;ve been one of the top defenses in the country.</p><p>&#8220;Too many field goals. Too many mistakes.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Salute the seniors</strong></p><p>Nineteen players were honored before the game during senior day ceremonies.</p><p>The full list: LB Matthew Baney, DT Tarow Barney, TE Kyle Carter, DB Jordan Dudas, TE Jack Haffner, OL Albert Hall, DB Colin Harrop, TE Charles Idemudia, LB Ben Kline, SS Jordan Lucas, OL Angelo Mangiro, DE Carl Nassib, OL Kevin Reihner, TE Dominic Salomone, DB Anthony Smith, CB Trevor Williams, WR Matt Zanellato and DT Anthony Zettel.</p><p>Out of those 19, Haffner, Hall, Harrop, Idemudia, Salomone and Smith have eligibility remaining but are not planning to return. Smith is the only player in that group who is on scholarship.</p><p>The loudest pop from the crowd was saved for last when Zettel trotted out of the tunnel. Zettel has had an especially tough year, losing his father to cancer in September and was emotional when hugging Franklin and his family members.</p><p>He almost didn&#8217;t get to finish the game.</p><p>Early in the third quarter Zettel was flagged for roughing the passer on a Michigan screen pass and was initially called for targeting, which is an automatic ejection.</p><p>Rules call for all targeting calls to be reviewed, however, and though he was still penalized 15 yards, Zettel was not tossed from his final game at Beaver Stadium.</p><p><strong>Infirmary report</strong></p><p>&#8226; Nassib got to make his senior day start. But that was it.</p><p>On the field for Michigan&#8217;s first play, Nassib quickly retreated to the sideline as the Wolverines marched for a touchdown on their opening drive with little pass rush to bother quarterback Jake Rudock.</p><p>An upper-body injury had forced the nation&#8217;s sack leader off the field in the fourth quarter of the Lions&#8217; loss to Northwestern. Two weeks later, Nassib was still ailing.</p><p>&#8220;He was limited all week,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;We hoped by limiting his reps in practice all week that we&#8217;d see how he would feel on Saturday. I could tell Friday at the walkthrough he wasn&#8217;t feeling great, but he wouldn&#8217;t tell us that.</p><p>&#8220;And then on Saturday, you could tell during warm-up that he wasn&#8217;t feeling great. And once we saw that he wasn&#8217;t going to be able to go and help us and help himself, we made the change and pulled him out.&#8221;</p><p>The injury ended Nassib&#8217;s streak of 10 straight games with a sack.</p><p>Junior Evan Schwan and redshirt freshman Torrence Brown split reps at end in Nassib&#8217;s absence, with Brown delivering a whiplash-inducing sack to Rudock in the first quarter.</p><p>&#8226; Right tackle Andrew Nelson returned to the starting lineup for the first time since re-aggravating a knee injury against Maryland last month. He was at his usual spot at right tackle, bumping Brendan Mahon out of the lineup.</p><p>&#8226; Malik Golden made the start in place of Jordan Lucas at strong safety. Golden switched his jersey from No. 6 to Lucas&#8217; No. 9 to honor the senior, who will miss the rest of the season with an apparent shoulder injury.</p><p>&#8226; Elsewhere in the secondary, sophomore cornerback Christian Campbell missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury.</p><p>&#8226; Kicker Joey Julius returned after a one-game hiatus in which he did not travel with the team to Northwestern. Julius handled kickoff duties while Tyler Davis came on for field goals. Davis hit three chip shot field goals and remains without a miss on the season.</p><p>&#8226; Tight end Mike Gesicki made a tough third-down catch over the middle in the first half but appeared to land awkwardly on his shoulder. The sophomore came out of the game and did not return, sporting a heavy wrap on his shoulder after halftime.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State running back Saquon Barkley (26) had no room to run near the goal line as Michigan dominated the Nittany Lions up front Saturday, particularly in the red zone. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_barkley-nothing.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State running back Saquon Barkley (26) had no room to run near the goal line as Michigan dominated the Nittany Lions up front Saturday, particularly in the red zone. </caption0><photoCredit0>Gene J. Puskar | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>VIDEO</strong></p><p>To see video of Penn State players singing the alma mater for the last time at Beaver Stadium, check ou the online version of this story on timesleader.com</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">WFKZtub2WL0 </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFKZtub2WL0 </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Penn State seniors&#8217; last song</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Jay Monahan | For Times Leader</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Penn State Notebook: Nittany Lions come up small in red zone