A look at five numbers from the 2015 Penn State football season you may have missed.
120:
How many yards for a loss Carl Nassib totaled this season. With 15.5 sacks it’s easy to see how teams came to fear the defensive end putting their offense behind schedule. For perspective, only three other Nittany Lions had more than 50 yards of the same variety. Austin Johnson put up a respectable 75, but nobody came close to touching Nassib.
301:
The total number of points Penn State scored this season. In fact the Nittany Lions scored just one more touchdown than their opponents by the end of the year. Penn State scored just 44 points in third quarter compared to a game high 103 during the second quarter. If the Nittany Lions were falling behind the fourth quarter was second best with 95 points to close out the game. Don’t count on a fast start though, just 59 points in the game’s opening minutes. All told Penn State scored as many points in the second quarter as the first and third quarters combined.
3:
For all of the questions surrounding special teams this season Penn State failed to make just three kicks all year. And from 45, 49 and 55 yards out none were exactly of the easy variety. Tyler Davis and Joey Julius may not quite have the confidence of the Penn State faithful like Sam Ficken did, but it’s hard to argue with a tandem that was nearly perfect on the year.
0:
Not something you would find in the box score, but Penn State gave up 10 sacks against Temple and not a single holding call for the entire game. While holding isn’t usually a positive, it’s amazing to think that an offensive line getting blown up so badly never even held a defensive player with the hope it would go uncalled.
3:
Chris Godwin became the third player in school history to register 1,000 receiving yards in a season, joining Allen Robinson (2013, 2012) and Bobby Engram (1994, 1995) as players to accomplish the feat. It is the fifth 1,000-yard performance in a season in program history. The magic number three, that comes in when you add Saquon Barkley’s 1,000+ yard performance to the mix. Penn State, for all of its offensive struggles, had a 1,000 yard rusher and 1,000 receiver for just the third time in program history. The last time it happened, 2012 before that 1994.
