Penn State's flu game: Lions overcome wave of illness to shut out Rutgers

An unassuming Parker Washington walked into Penn State’s training room looking for a pregame tape job.

Instead, he found a hospital ward.

Nittany Lion after Nittany Lion needed liquid IV, trying to stay hydrated by any means necessary before Penn State took on Rutgers at Beaver Stadium.

A wave of illness struck the Penn State roster in the lead-up to Saturday’s noon clash. The Nittany Lions were without 35 players against the Scarlet Knights — 21 of them because of the flu. Another 14 Lions played through their symptoms.

Penn State won anyway. It wasn’t always pretty, but under these circumstances it didn’t matter. The Nittany Lions held Rutgers off the scoreboard with a 28-0 triumph.

“I’ve been doing this for 26 years, 12 years as a head coach,” James Franklin said. “I’m very proud of this team. I’m very proud of that locker room. We faced as much adversity in this game as I’ve been around.”

Nearly every aspect of Penn State’s preparatory process was thrown into disarray ahead of the game. A group message chain with all of the staff members buzzed constantly with updates on player availability. As some players recovered, others fell sick.

The flu crept over the Penn State roster in two waves, one earlier in the week and another on Friday. One day, the Nittany Lions had all of their scholarship quarterbacks at their disposal. The next they had none. Walk-on signal-caller Mason Stahl led the first team offense in Penn State’s practice on Friday, and Franklin said the Penn State staff was prepared to move forward with him at the helm.

Preparing amidst the chaos was challenging. Penn State defensive tackle Derrick Tangelo said it required heightened focus.

“We just had to be more locked in,” he said. “I feel like there were a lot more moving parts. We didn’t really know who was going to be ready to go, so we just had to prepare for every type of situation.”

True freshman quarterback Christian Veilleux got the green light to play Friday, to Franklin’s great relief. Starter Sean Clifford had been instructed to sleep in Saturday morning, with hopes that some extra rest could get him over the hump.

Clifford didn’t warm up because he was getting IV treatment in the training room. A Big Ten Network sideline reporter asked Franklin whether Clifford would go, and the head coach shirked the question.

It wasn’t a tactical choice. At that point, Franklin insists he really didn’t know.

“I had to ask the doctors and trainers where he’s at because he never came out for warmup,” Franklin said. “Then he felt like he could go, the doctors and trainers felt like he could go. Obviously he missed practice time. He hadn’t eaten — the IVs and the whole deal.”

Clifford, understandably, didn’t have it. Penn State’s offense went nowhere until Franklin called an audible late in the first quarter.

Veilleux did his job — and then some. He passed for 235 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 36 yards, too.

The freshman’s effort proved microcosmic of Penn State’s collective resilience.

Jonathan Sutherland filled in for the ill Curtis Jacobs at Sam linebacker and came away with an interception. Penn State’s makeshift offensive line — absent starters Rasheed Walker and Mike Miranda from the onset — gave up one sack as the Nittany Lions rushed for 147 yards.

Tangelo explained that the energy on Penn State’s sideline made the difference. But why were they so energized with a roster full of players recoverng from the flu?

“It is kinda hard to get excited when you’re sick,” Tangelo said. “All we kept saying was it’s our last game in Beaver Stadium. That’s what changed everything. You could see that everybody locked in, they put their feelings to the side.”

It’s easy to imagine this game going very differently. Up against a driven Rutgers team looking to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2014, the Nittany Lions could have unraveled without their starting quarterback and several other key components.

They didn’t. Penn State’s defense turned in its second shutout of the season, limiting the Scarlet Knights to 165 total yards. Veilleux conducted the offense without missing a note.

“That’s how we are built,” defensive end Arnold Ebiketie said. “We don’t make excuses — we rise up to the challenge. We knew some people were going to have to step up. A lot of people stepped up this game. We weren’t surprised. We know we have to rise up to the occasion, so I’m definitely proud of those guys.”