Penn State mounts comeback against Boston College, wins Pinstripe Bowl in OT 31-30

Penn State WR DaeSean Hamilton scored a critical TD for the Nittany Lions as they won their first bowl game since NCAA sanctions were lifted.

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The Penn State Nittany Lions got their fairy tale ending to years of rebuilding with a 31-30 OT win over the Boston College Eagles in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

The Nittany Lions struck first with a 72-yard TD pass from QB Christian Hackenberg to Chris Goodwin. But Virginia Tech answered less than 15 seconds later with a 49-yard run by RB Jon Hilliman. A scoreless second quarter led to a 7-7 halftime score.

The third quarter was where the game got really interesting for Penn State: Boston College QB Tyler Murphy scored two TDs to give the Eagles a 21-7 lead. But Penn State maintained its composure and erased that 14-point deficit with two TD drives of its own – first on a 7-yard TD pass from Hackenberg to Eugene Lewis to close out the third quarter, and then early in the fourth quarter on a 16-yard score to DaeSean Hamilton to tie the game up. With 3:01 left in the fourth quarter, Boston College went ahead on a FG from PK Mike Knoll to give them a 24-21 score, but Penn State got the ball back, marched down the field, and scored on a 45-yard FG from PK Sam Ficken to send the game to overtime tied 24-24.

In OT Boston College scored on a 21-yard TD pass from Tyler Murphy to David Dudeck, but Mike Knoll missed the extra point to make the game 30-24. On the ensuing drive Penn State scored on a Hackenberg pass to Kyle Carter to tie the game, and then Sam Ficken iced the game with a successful extra point attempt to give Penn State the win.

With the win, Penn State completed the incredible turnaround from several years without a bowl game and years of shame from the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal of 2011.