A missed field goal, a missed extra point, a kickoff out of bounds and poor coverage on a kickoff.
About a month ago, that would have been the line on Penn State’s stats sheet.
But not this week.
On Saturday at Beaver Stadium, it was Purdue whose fate was sealed by the failures of the special teams unit, leading to the Nittany Lions’ 23-18 win in front of a Homecoming crowd of 100,820 at Beaver Stadium.
Purdue place-kicker Carson Wiggs missed a 44-yard field goal that would have given the Boilermakers (3-3, 1-1 Big Ten) a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter. He later missed an extra point that would have tied the game at 13-a-piece in the third quarter. Without that miss, the team wouldn’t have had to attempt a two-point conversion to make up for the miss.
That’s five points they should have had but didn’t — five points that ended up as the difference in the final score on Saturday.
And for the Lions (6-1, 3-0), what was once a weak spot has now become a strength.
Place-kicker Anthony Fera went 3-for-3 in field goal attempts, not including two made extra points. He pinned the Boilermakers at or within their own 20-yard-line six times, including a punt to the 2-yard line with 2:20 left on the clock, leaving Purdue 99 yards (after a penalty) away from a potential game-tying score that never came.
All of a sudden, Penn State’s special teams unit has become old reliable. After missing five field goals and an extra point coming into Big Ten play, Penn State has missed only one field goal (a 52-yarder) since.
“[Fera]’s just got a leg on him. He’s big to have around,” fullback Michael Zordich said. “One of the most important things in the game is the field position battle. All he’s doing is helping us a whole lot right now. If he keeps that up, we’re going to be OK.”
Getting Fera in a position to make his final field goal of the day, though, was a 92-yard kickoff return fromChaz Powell.
He earned a personal foul penalty afterwards to push the offense back to the Purdue 18. But before the call, the 92-yard return was just three yards shy of his season-long 95-yard touchdown return on the opening play of the season against Indiana State.
Obviously, a return like Powell’s puts the offense in a better position to put points on the board, quarterback Matt McGloin said. And though they came out with only a field goal, the field position switch and those three points that came out of it loomed large in the final outcome.
“Especially in Big Ten conference games any advantage you can get, you want,” McGloin said. “We’re real happy with the way that worked out today. Chaz made a great run and Anthony did a great job punting and kicking.”
However, as great as the returns and field goals were, the Lions did still allow the Boilermakers’ RaheemMostert a 71-yard kickoff return that set up the his team’s first touchdown of the day.
The Lions can’t be over-confident after today, coach Joe Paterno said, as they have a long way to go.
But still, Saturday’s special teams play was a step in the right direction, safety Nick Sukay said. They just need to keep it up with a tough Big Ten schedule ahead.
“We felt that we did a pretty good job on special teams,” Sukay said. “They had that one long kickoff return. But besides from that, we felt it was a pretty good effort but there’s always stuff to improve on.”