WATCH: Player on Penn State sideline delivers forearm shiver to Taulia Tagovailoa
There was a controversial late hit in the Penn State–Maryland game, and it didn’t even come from a player in the game at the time.
Penn State left tackle Fred Hansard hit Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa after the quarterback had taken three full steps out of bounds on the Penn State sideline.
The 6-foot-3, 309-pound lineman was not flagged for the shove, which knocked Tagovailoa over.
Hansard, a redshirt senior, has appeared in 26 games in Happy Valley but is not a regular starter.
The broadcast originally identified the Penn State player as Rasheed Walker, but that has since been corrected.
Penn State leads 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter; the teams have been trading touchdowns for the duration of the game. Tagovailoa is 30-for-43 with 274 yards and a touchdown. Midway through the third quarter, Maryland had only possessed the ball for a little over 14 total minutes.
The Terps have struggled on third down all season, and those struggles are continuing Saturday. They are 4-13 on third down, lower than their season average of of 37.4%, which is 84th in the country. Penn State is 9-16 on third down.
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford looks very good for the second consecutive game. He is 27-for-46 with 363 yards and three touchdowns.
Clifford threw for 361 yards, a touchdown and an interception against Ohio State last weekend with a completion percentage of 67.3%. How well Penn State does this season is highly contingent on his play, so his success is a good sign for the Nittany Lions after several spotty games and an injury earlier in the season.
Both teams are 2-3 in the Big Ten, so the winning team will return to .500 in conference play. Maryland plays Michigan State next week and Michigan the following week, so a win heading into those contests would be big for them. They finish the season at Rutgers.