Highs and Lows: Big Ten Championship game

INDIANAPOLIS – Penn State is the Big Ten Champion after it's 38-31 win over Wisconsin Saturday night. Blue White Illustrated goes through the highs and lows of the memorable night in Lucas Oil Field.

PLAYER OF THE GAME Trace McSorley spent the first quarter Saturday night getting knocked around. Then he went out and engineered one of the best passing performances in Big Ten Championship game history. He finished with 384 passing yards and four touchdowns.

PLAY OF THE GAME Saeed Blacknall’s 70-yard, backyard football catch-and-run for a touchdown to open the third quarter gave the Nittany Lions a boost they desperately wanted coming out of halftime. The score cut the Lions’ deficit to just 7 points, setting up a thrilling finish to the game.

BEST PASS Facing a critical third-and-12 midway through the third quarter, Wisconsin quarterback Bart Houston calmly dropped back and delivered a strike to Jazz Peavy. A 24-yard completion, Houston’s pass set up the Badgers for their first points of the game when Austin Ramesh slammed home a 1-yard touchdown.

BEST RUN The Nittany Lions already reeling from two quick three-and-outs, Wisconsin running back Corey Clement delivered what initially appeared to be a brutal knockout punch before the end of the first quarter. Following his blocks left, Clement made Grant Haley miss and traveled 67 yards into the end zone to give the Badgers a 14-0 lead.

BEST CATCH Set up by a critical third-down completion to move into Wisconsin territory, Trace McSorley’s 33-yard touchdown completion to tight end Mike Gesicki revived a lifeless Nittany Lion team late in the first quarter. Leaping above the Badger secondary, Gesicki made the critical play when it mattered.

DaeSean Hamilton’s 38-yard reception to round out the third quarter gets a runner-up nod. A jump ball surrounded by three Badgers that the veteran Nittany Lion somehow found a way to emerge with the ball. With the pass and catch, McSorley eclipsed Matt McGloin’s season passing record at 3,295 yards, as well as setting a new mark in the Big Ten Championship. He broke Connor Cook’s 304 yards set in 2013.

WORST DROP The Nittany Lions owning possession and poised to steal momentum from Wisconsin, a poor snap from Brian Gaia to McSorley produced the worst possible result for Penn State on a third-and-1 in the second quarter. Sailing high and right, Gaia’s snap couldn’t be corralled by McSorley, and further attempts to bring it in proved fruitless. The Badgers pounced on the bobbling ball, landing in Ryan Connelly’s hands and skirted 12 yards into the end zone to give them a 21-7 lead.

BEST SACK Brandon Bell’s leaping sack on Houston elicited memories of LaVar Arrington Saturday night. Staring down a third-and-6 with momentum completely on Penn State’s side, the veteran Nittany Lion linebacker jumped over the cutting running back blocker to force the 8-yard sack and fumble.

BEST HIT Bell’s first tackle of the night might have been his hardest. Finding Corey Clement snaking left against a flood right, Bell smacked Clement head on to bring the Wisconsin running back down for just a 2-yard gain in the game’s first few minutes.

BEST EFFORT Torrence Brown’s strip on Corey Clement was a beautiful effort that simply went unrewarded. Though the redshirt sophomore defensive end appeared to have given the Nittany Lions another shot at life, a streaking Marcus Allen was unable to wrangle the bouncing ball. The Badgers would need only a few more plays to punch in a 7-yard touchdown to take a 28-7 lead.

Jordan Smith’s touchdown-saving tackle on Jazz Peavy prevented the Badgers from retaking a touchdown lead at the end of the third quarter, instead forcing a field goal, and that shouldn't be overlooked.

BEST DECISION This Penn State team simply doesn’t seem to care when many others would throw in the towel. Trailing 28-7 with only a couple minutes remaining in the first half, the Nittany Lions traversed 90 yards in eight plays, capped by a 40-yard Saeed Blacknall touchdown reception to cut the deficit to 14 points. Seemingly immune to disaster, the Nittany Lions again proved their mettleSaturday night.

WORST DECISION Maybe a different result would have produced a different answer here, but James Franklin decision to go on fourth-and-2 at his own 42-yard line midway through the second quarter proved fruitless. Running for his life, McSorley couldn’t escape the pass rush, flinging an aimless ball toward the sideline that would result in a turnover on downs. A major talking point at halftime, the decision didn’t seem to matter once the Nittany Lions pulled ahead 35-31 in the fourth quarter.

Also to be considered was a late hit on McSorley by Leon Jacobs that prolonged PSU's possession midway through the fourth quarter, leading to a field goal.

MOST TELLING MOMENT It took until the fourth quarter for Penn State to jump ahead and when it did, it didn't look back. With Barkley slipping into the end zone on a wheel route with just over three minutes left to play, McSorley put a perfectly placed ball in between Barkley's hands to go up, 35-31. It's only fitting that the two offensive playmakers who led PSU to nine straight wins to close out the season also put the team ahead for the conference championship.