Nine tries in 19 years at George Washington. Thirteen tries in 11 years in Evanston.
Twenty-two times in the past three decades Coach Joe McKeown had sent his squad up against Penn State. Twenty-two times he had failed to come away with a victory. Some had been close, like the one point loss that McKeown’s only NCAA Tournament teaming his Northwestern tenure suffered to a 4-15 Penn State in 2015. Most had been blowouts. But it all, finally, changed last night.
Coming off of a tough road overtime loss to Minnesota in which they battled back from double-digit third quarter deficit to take a late lead, but couldn’t hold on, the Wildcats (15-10, 8-6) were attempting to make history against one of the worst Penn State teams (10-14, 3-10) McKeown had faced in that stretch.