2005 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

Michael Robinson went bombs away to the Lions' speedy freshmen as Penn State defeated the Bearcats 42-24. The offense struggled in the first half, but Robinson hooked up with Justin King for a 59-yard touchdown in the third quarter, followed by a 41-yard bomb to Derrick Williams on the next possession. In the fourth quarter, Deon Butler hooked up with Robinson for a 45-yard touchdown. Robinson finished 11 of 17 for 220 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

Penn State's backup quarterback, sophomore Anthony Morelli, made his season debut, finishing 4 of 5 passes and scoring the Lions' final touchdown on a 1-yard keeper.

Michael Robinson led a come-from-behind 34-29 win against the Wildcats, but in the first half Robinson threw three interceptions and lost a fumble to dig a deep hole for the Lions. But the offense would recover in the second half and outscore the Wildcats 17-6 in the fourth quarter to escape with the win.

The defining drive came with two minutes left, trailing by two points. On a fourth-and-15, Robinson threw a 20-yard strike to tight end Isaac Smolko. Five plays later, Robinson would lob a 36-yard pass out to Derrick Williams who caught the ball, ducked to avoid a defender, and dashed into the end zone. Anwar Phillips would pick off Northwestern's Brett Basanez to seal the win.

Penn State defeated the Buckeyes 17-10 in front of 109,839 fans, at the time the second-largest Beaver Stadium crowd (this record was later broken in 2006). Michael Robinson threw for 78 yards and carried the ball 14 times for 52 yards and a touchdown. Calvin Lowry intercepted Ohio State QB Troy Smith and returned the ball to the 2-yard line, setting up Robinson's touchdown.

On Ohio State's final chance to score a game-tying touchdown, Tamba Hali sacked Smith, forcing a fumble recovered by Scott Paxson and allowing the Nittany Lions to run out the clock. Led by Paul Posluszny who had 14 tackles and a sack in the game, the Penn State defense held the Buckeyes to only 230 total yards.]

October 22: Illinois

Special teams stood out as Penn State defeated the Boilermakers 33-15. Ethan Kilmer had six special teams tackles and a forced fumble that led to a field goal. Kevin Kelly was four for four on field goals. Rodney Kinlaw would return a kickoff 58 yards that set up a touchdown.

Michael Robinson would finish 13 of 29 for 213 yards passing and rushed for 96 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. Tony Hunt would gain 129 yards on 24 carries, his fourth 100-yard rushing game this season. Fullback BranDon Snow would score his first two career touchdowns on runs of 2 and 4 yards.

The Lions captured the Big Ten title and a BCS bowl berth with a 31-22 win over the Spartans. Alan Zemaitis intercepted Spartans quarterback Drew Stanton three times and also tallied seven tackles. Nickelback Donnie Johnson also had an interception to preserve a 17-0 Lions lead at the half. Johnson's biggest play however may be a blocked punt earlier in the second quarter that was recovered by backup fullback Matt Hahn in the end zone, his first career touchdown.

Michael Robinson finished 10 of 20 for 105 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 90 yards on 13 carries, including a 33-yard touchdown run, the longest rushing touchdown of his career. Tony Hunt finished with 89 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown, pushing him past 1,000 yards rushing this season.]

Rankings

External links

* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/ Official Penn State Athletics website]
* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/psu-m-footbl-body.html Official Penn State Athletics football subsite]
* [http://www.gopsf.com/ Penn State Football website]
* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2005-2006/teamstat.html Season statistics]

References