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Penn State blanks woeful Rutgers, eyes shot at Big Ten title

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Carter Rowney’s OT goal gives Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4-3 win

<p>PISCATAWAY, N.J. &#8212; Thirteen of Penn State&#8217;s 19 players from New Jersey made the trip to Rutgers Saturday. Five of those who stayed back in Pennsylvania were walk-ons who aren&#8217;t on the travel roster.</p><p>The sixth has had his jersey hanging up in the locker room in his absence.</p><p>That would be junior tackle Brendan Mahon, a breakout player for the Nittany Lions in 2016 who has now missed all but three snaps over the last three games with an undisclosed ailment.</p><p>Lions coach James Franklin said a week ago that he would not be providing any specific updates on Mahon, who was admitted to Hershey Medical Center in stable condition at some point after the Iowa game, according to Penn State.</p><p>&#8220;Brendan Mahon, that&#8217;s yet to be determined,&#8221; Franklin offered on Thursday during his weekly radio show.</p><p>Five days earlier out at Indiana, Franklin himself hung Mahon&#8217;s No. 70 jersey over the locker room door before the game. After the 45-31 win, safety Marcus Allen held it up during the celebration before Franklin addressed the team.</p><p>Franklin would then point to someone who was recording the moment for the program&#8217;s weekly highlight package.</p><p>&#8220;Wherever the cameras are, get the camera on No. 70,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;That (win) was for you, Mahon.&#8221;</p><p>On Wednesday, there was actually a No. 70 working with the offensive line during the portion of practice open to reporters. But it was true freshman Michal Menet, who was also working with the scout team, where he was standing in for Rutgers&#8217; No. 70, Chris Muller.</p><p>Menet and fellow rookie Will Fries made the trip, but only Menet was in uniform.</p><p>Mahon was one of Penn State&#8217;s biggest recruits in the 2013 signing class, the first one to join up after heavy NCAA sanctions hit the program. A four-star prospect, Mahon went to high school in Randolph, New Jersey, about 45 minutes north of Rutgers&#8217; campus.</p><p>Penn State&#8217;s last trip to Piscataway had Mahon, a redshirt freshman in 2014, at left guard making his third career start. The line struggled for most of the night to protect quarterback Christian Hackenberg, but with the game on the line in the final minutes, they gave him enough time to hit two big passes before clearing a path for Bill Belton to score the winning touchdown.</p><p>Without Mahon there for the return trip on Saturday night, the Lions went with a starting line of Ryan Bates, Steven Gonzalez, Brian Gaia, Derek Dowrey and Chasz Wright, from left to right.</p><p>Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Connor McGovern, who was injured in the fourth quarter of last week&#8217;s game, was on the trip and participated in warm-ups but did not see the field in the first half. Gonzalez made his first career start, with the milestone coming in his home state.</p><p>In the meantime, Mahon remains in his teammates&#8217; thoughts.</p><p>&#8220;Obviously, (Mahon) was part of our mindset going into the (Indiana) game, and even this game, it being Jersey and him being a Jersey guy,&#8221; linebacker Jason Cabinda, another New Jersey native, said during the week. &#8220;It&#8217;s never good when one of your teammates can&#8217;t go out to battle with you. And in football, you only get 12 or 13 a season after working all year long.</p><p>&#8220;That a guy like Brendan Mahon wasn&#8217;t able to play meant more for us. We wanted to go out and play for him.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Infirmary report</strong></p><p>One new name on the injury list who didn&#8217;t make the trip was redshirt freshman Ryan Buchholz.</p><p>The defensive end has been an effective part of the Lions&#8217; deep rotation up front and has also lined up at tackle on obvious passing downs to boost the rush.</p><p>Just before halftime, special teams captain Von Walker appeared to injure his left leg on punt coverage. The senior could not put weight on the leg and needed to be helped off the field by two people &#8212; head trainer Tim Bream and Franklin.</p><p><strong>Franklin honored</strong></p><p>Franklin opened the weekend by being named as a semifinalist for the Munger Award, given to the national coach of the year.</p><p>The Lions&#8217; third-year boss was one of 16 semifinalists and one of four from the Big Ten, joining Wisconsin&#8217;s Paul Chryst, Michigan&#8217;s Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State&#8217;s Urban Meyer.</p><p>Not bad for a coach whom many wanted to put on the hot seat a little more than a month ago.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not like we&#8217;re doing anything different than we&#8217;ve done the last two years,&#8221; Franklin said in an ESPN segment that aired Saturday morning. &#8220;We&#8217;re just sticking to the plan, loving these kids and working hard.&#8221;</p><p>Franklin&#8217;s predecessor, Bill O&#8217;Brien, won the Munger award in 2012. Joe Paterno claimed it in 1990, 1994 and 2005.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki runs with the ball as Rutgers linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams tries to run him out of bounds during the first half of Saturday&#8217;s game in Piscataway, N.J. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_Gesicki-Rutgers.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State tight end Mike Gesicki runs with the ball as Rutgers linebacker Tyreek Maddox-Williams tries to run him out of bounds during the first half of Saturday&#8217;s game in Piscataway, N.J. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mel Evans | 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"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State playing for missing Mahon