How did Penn State seal the win against Rutgers? Here’s the turning point

Immediately, minutes following every Penn State game, we’ll take a closer look at the turning point to each game. You can find our more in-depth stories after speaking with coaches and players on centredaily.com

Words cannot fully encapsulate Rutgers’ ineptitude — but we’ll try our best.

The turning point to this 20-7 Penn State win had little to do with the Nittany Lions and much to do with Rutgers’ inability to follow through on anything offensively. Know what the play is yet?

Let’s set it up: Midway though the third quarter, Penn State led 13-0 and the Scarlet Knights’ offense hadn’t done much of anything up to that point. But it appeared as if that was about to change.

With about seven minutes left to play in the third quarter, Rutgers found itself just 2 yards shy of the end zone on first-and-goal. After three straight runs for a net gain of zero yards, it was faced with fourth-and-goal and Penn State called a timeout.

Little did Rutgers know it was just moments away from what NJ.com columnist Steve Politi called “the entire 149-year history of Rutgers football in a single play.”

In the pistol, backup QB Gio Rescigno walked closer to the line when the ball was directly snapped to the running back, who handed it off on an end-around to another back in Trey Sneed. It was similar to the Philadelphia Eagles’ legendary “Philly Special” play that it used to upset the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

But, again, this was Rutgers. Not the Eagles. Sneed spotted a wide-open Rescigno in the end zone, tossed it to him immediately — and it bounced right off his hands for an incompletion.

If there was one play that epitomized Rutgers’ struggles Saturday, it was that one. It was a good play-call, and a lot was done right that play — but one huge mistake made everything collapse. The drop all but sealed the loss.

Rutgers’ next quality scoring opportunity came too late in the final quarter, when the game was all but decided, and the Nittany Lions rode that fact to an easy win.

It was a play that’ll surely be replayed thousands of times. Keep an eye out for it on SportsCenter’s Not-Top-10.

This story was originally published November 17, 2018 at 3:14 PM.