ARLINGTON — Penn State had let its lead narrow. It needed a special play from its special defensive players, the ones who were highly touted before the contest but had struggled to make a difference earlier in the game.
With Memphis in possession down two points just before the end of the third quarter, Micah Parsons sprinted through the Tigers’ offensive line and wrapped up quarterback Brady White at his own 15-yard line.
White attempted to backhand a pass to a teammate before taking a sack. Instead, the ball went directly to Penn State safety Garrett Taylor, who returned it for a touchdown to extend the Big Ten squad’s advantage to 45-36.
It was exactly the play the Nittany Lions needed, and they added another score in the fourth quarter to take home a 53-39 win Saturday in the 84th edition of the Cotton Bowl.
The teams’ combined 92 points blew past the previous record for most points scored in a Cotton Bowl. The previous record came in 2015 when Michigan State edged Baylor, 42-41, for a combined 83 points.
But Penn State’s defense forcing the critical turnover, plus keeping Memphis to field goals on six occasions was enough for the Nittany Lions to head back to State College as Cotton Bowl champions.
“We played a lot of snaps out there today,” said Parsons, an All-American who was named the defensive player of the game after finishing the day with 14 tackles and two sacks. “It was pretty hectic. I thought they came out with a great game plan. We didn’t really practice their tempo. We really didn’t see a lot on film. And I think the tempo was pretty effective.
“But I think that we held our own and we were able to get a stop when we needed one.”
There were hints from the beginning it would be a back-and-forth affair played at a frenetic pace. The first score came less than five minutes after the opening kickoff and the next came just a minute later. Both Penn State and Memphis continued to push the tempo on offense, leading to a New Year’s Six record 58 combined points in the first half.
“For us, it came down to our key stats we talk about all the time,” Penn State coach James Franklin said postgame. “We won the field-position battle, we won the turnover battle, we won the penalty battle, we won the explosive play battle. When you do that, you’re going to have a chance to be successful.”
The Nittany Lions started to pull away in the second quarter with Journey Brown’s 56-yard touchdown run to make it 28-13, capping a streak of three unanswered touchdowns.
But Memphis was back in the end zone two minutes later, however, with running back Kenneth Gainwell plunging over the goal line shortly after White dropped a pass into Damonte Coxie’s breadbasket for a 41-yard gain that kept the Tigers in the game.
Their defense once again conceded a big run, though, with Ricky Slade’s 44-yard dash on the first play of the ensuing drive setting up a Johan Dotson touchdown on a screen.
The Tigers quickly went 49 yards to set up a field goal from Riley Patterson to send the teams into the break with Penn State up, 35-23.
“We missed too many tackles, allowed too many gaps in the run game,” said Memphis coach Ryan Silverstein, who made his head-coaching debut in the defeat. “And we've got to make sure we're doing a better job being sound tacklers and being fundamentally sound.”
Memphis kept its momentum going in the second half, scoring a touchdown on the opening drive with a trick play that saw White catch a pass from wide receiver Kedarian Jones to put the Tigers on the goal line. Austin Hall picked off a Sean Clifford pass on Penn State’s next possession, but Memphis was able to turn it into just three points after losing four yards over the next three plays and settled for a field goal that cut the deficit to two points.
The teams swapped field goals before the Taylor interception gave Penn State breathing room once again.
“It was a close game. They were making their plays, we were making ours,” Taylor said. “We knew we needed to make a stop or a big play on defense.”
White tossed another critical interception with just under five minutes to play in the game and the Tigers down 53-39 after a Noah Cain touchdown run. Memphis gained yards in chunks to get to the Penn State 19-yard-line but White forced a pass to a receiver near the end zone that instead was caught by Nittany Lion cornerback Marquis Wilson.
The win gives the Nittany Lions a final record of 11-2, the third time since Franklin took over in 2014 that Penn State has finished the season with 11 wins.
With Brown, Cain, Clifford, offensive lineman Will Fries and tight end Pat Freimuth back on offense and Parsons among the stars back on defense, the future looks promising for Penn State.
“I’m going to enjoy this win tonight, but I do think this game and this win and these 11 wins and these young players that are going to be returning is going to give us a lot of momentum going into next season, which we’re going to need,” Franklin said.
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In Cotton Bowl full of offensive fireworks, a key play from Penn State's defense led to win over Memphis - The Dallas Morning News
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