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<p>No one could blame Rutgers fans for leaving. By the end of the third quarter, it was debatable which was worse &#8212; the weather or the game.</p><p>By the time Penn State was done running Rutgers through the woodchipper, it was almost exclusively Nittany Lions fans left in cold and soggy High Point Solutions Stadium, wearing white and chanting for the visitors.</p><p>&#8220;Oh man, that was just surreal,&#8221; said linebacker Jason Cabinda, a New Jersey native. &#8220;And our fans stayed through that. They stayed through the hail and the rain and the cold. And they were screaming their butts off.</p><p>&#8220;I mean, literally no one else in the stadium was there.&#8221;</p><p>As if to underscore the point, a group of Penn State fans briefly annexed Rutgers&#8217; student section in the fourth quarter as it began to clear out.</p><p>Lions coach James Franklin was impressed enough &#8212; he personally did a postgame lap to high-five fans still hanging on the front railing &#8212; that he began to beat the drum for Saturday&#8217;s regular season finale in the opening minutes of his press conference.</p><p>Penn State will take on Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. at Beaver Stadium. If Ohio State holds serve at home against archrival Michigan at noon, then the Lions can win the Big Ten East by beating the Spartans.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to need everyone,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;I know Thanksgiving break is a challenge, but I am personally and professionally challenging all of our lettermen, our alumni, the community, the students. The dorms will be open on Friday at 3 o&#8217;clock. We need every student on campus. We need the lettermen from all over the country to fly in.&#8221;</p><p>And then he busted out the big gun.</p><p>&#8220;LaVar, I&#8217;m personally calling you out,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;Fly back for the game.&#8221;</p><p>That would be former Penn State star linebacker LaVar Arrington, who knew Franklin when the coach was still at Maryland and Arrington lived in the area after his NFL career with Washington.</p><p>Arrington had been one of the first of Penn State&#8217;s high-profile lettermen to reach out in 2014, coming to Happy Valley a few weeks after Franklin was hired to host a signing day event at the Bryce Jordan Center.</p><p>But Arrington hasn&#8217;t been to Beaver Stadium in just over five years &#8212; Nov. 12, 2011 &#8212; for Penn State&#8217;s game against Nebraska after the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the removal of his old coach, Joe Paterno.</p><p>Franklin&#8217;s comments were made after midnight, but they got to Arrington quickly thanks to social media.</p><p>&#8220;I WILL BE THERE,&#8221; Arrington messaged the coach on Twitter, saying that he would be flying in from Los Angeles. &#8220;Say no more.&#8221;</p><p>He proceeded to recruit other individuals &#8212; Ki-Jana Carter, O.J. McDuffie, NaVorro Bowman, Aaron Maybin, James Boyd and Chafie Fields, among others &#8212; before expanding his scope to everyone who played with him and everyone who came after he left for the NFL following the 1999 season.</p><p>&#8220;Glad Coach called me out,&#8221; Arrington wrote. &#8220;It&#8217;s been way too long. &#8230; Ever since I posted, there has been non-stop messages about (lettermen) coming to the game.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Polls aligning</strong></p><p>Penn State is now ranked No. 8 across the major polls, moving up one spot in the AP rankings and two in the coaches&#8217; vote on Sunday.</p><p>The Lions will likely be No. 7 or No. 8 when the new College Football Playoff poll is released Tuesday evening. They will almost certainly pass Louisville after the Cardinals&#8217; loss at Houston, but No. 9 Oklahoma could possibly leap the Lions after doubling up a ranked West Virginia squad on the road.</p><p><strong>Numbers game</strong></p><p>Much of the attention on Saturday went to records set on defense. Penn State set new program bests in Big Ten play by holding Rutgers to just 87 yards and five first downs.</p><p>Not to be lost, though, were the team-high five catches made by Mike Gesicki, which gave him 42 for the year &#8212; the most ever by a Penn State tight end in a season. And with just 55 more yards, he&#8217;ll break the single-season tight end receiving yardage record as well.</p><p>Obviously the Lions were, for many years, a team that used the position more to block than to catch passes. But it&#8217;s still an impressive turnaround for Gesicki personally.</p><p>The junior had just 13 catches in 2015, his first year as a starter, and was known more for his problems with drops. After Saturday&#8217;s game, he said he wasn&#8217;t aware of the record until being told by a reporter.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a tribute to the guys around me and the offense,&#8221; Gesicki said. &#8220;The opportunities they&#8217;re giving me, I appreciate it all. Obviously that&#8217;s something that I&#8217;m proud of and have worked for.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Comeback player of the year,&#8221; Cabinda said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">By the fourth quarter on Saturday, there were more Penn State supporters than Rutgers fans left in the stands at High Point Solutions Stadium. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_AP1632518058270520161120134132801-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>By the fourth quarter on Saturday, there were more Penn State supporters than Rutgers fans left in the stands at High Point Solutions Stadium. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mel Evans | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Franklin makes his pitch to lettermen, fans</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Michigan State at Penn State</p><p>3:30 p.m., Saturday, ESPN</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 style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><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%;"> JHzDrELM_IU</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</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=JHzDrELM_IU</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%;"> </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%;"> Derek Levarse | Times Leader</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>

James Franklin makes his pitch to rally lettermen, fans for Penn State’s finale