With the 2019 college footballs season complete, we look back on how the Big Ten did in bowl games.
As we go through all the bowls, in no particular order, we will focus on two main things:
1. How did the bowl performance end the 2019 season? Was it a fitting end or a poor performance, etc.
2. What impact, if any, will it have on the 2020 season.
Now that we’ve gone through all four Big Ten losses (not including the CFP), let’s move on to the wins.
2019 Cotton Bowl Classic: Penn State vs Memphis
The matchup
In what is unfortunately becoming an all-too-common occurrence, a lot of luster was lost from this Power 5 vs Group of 5 matchup before the game even happened. Memphis head coach Mike Norvell was hired by Florida State. How would Memphis complete its season without its head coach? And, more importantly, just how good was Penn State anyway? The Nittany Lions barely beat Pitt, Iowa, and Michigan and lost to Minnesota, but they did impress in the loss to Ohio State. What would this game have in store–featuring a potentially vulnerable good P5 team against a definitely vulnerable really good Group of 5 team?
What went right
Penn State was nearly unstoppable. The offense scored four touchdowns in the second quarter alone. The Nittany Lions obviously didn’t score on every drive, but they put up over 500 yards of offense and moved the ball at will for most of the game. The vast majority of the offense came on the ground, with Journey Brown running for over 200 yards and two touchdowns, while Noah Cain added 92 yards and two touchdowns, as well.
What went wrong
If the Penn State running game was unstoppable, then so was the Memphis passing game. Penn State’s secondary was a sieve, giving up 479 yards through the air. The one important, game-winning stat, though, is that Memphis did not throw for a single touchdown. The Tigers ran for three touchdowns, and Penn State held them to field goals on a whopping six drives. That was the real difference in the game (that and a pick-six late in the third quarter)–Penn State capped its drives with touchdowns, while Memphis could only manage field goals far too often.