Monmouth County Native Saeed Blacknall Scores First College Touchdown for Penn State

Saeed Blacknall picked a pretty good time to score the first touchdown of his college football career.

Blacknall, a freshman wide receiver at Penn State, caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the fourth quarter of the Nittany Lions’ double overtime loss to Ohio State, 31-24, Saturday night.

Blacknall’s catch was the first offensive score of the game for a struggling Nittany Lions squad.

Before that pass, Penn State’s only score was a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior defensive tackle Anthony Zettel earlier in the quarter. Penn State had fallen behind 17-0 at halftime.

Blacknall’s touchdown reception would cut the lead to 17-14. Penn State forced overtime with a 31-yard field goal by senior kicker Sam Ficken with nine seconds left in the game.

Senior running back Bill Belton gave Penn State its first lead of the game with a 1-yard touchdown run in the first overtime.

However, back-to-back touchdown runs by freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett and a final stand by the Buckeyes defense helped Ohio State escape with a victory that seemed all but certain in the first half and almost deteriorated into oblivion in the second.

It was Penn State’s first multiple-overtime game since a quadruple overtime win over Michigan last season, and was the first overtime loss since last season’s controversial defeat at the hands of Nebraska.

Blacknall had four catches for 34 yards in the game. Before Saturday, he had three total catches for 26 yards, according to espn.com.

In August of 2013, Blacknall committed to play football at Rutgers because it gave him the chance to play college football close to home. He chose Rutgers over Alabama and Louisiana State.

In January, he changed his mind and committed to Penn State.He did so with with a week and a half left until National Signing Day, the day high school athletes sign their college letters of intent.

He also did so at a time when Penn State was banned from playing in the postseason due to sanctions placed on the program in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Originally, the ban was in place until 2016. Earlier this season, the NCAA lifted that ban. Penn State may play in a bowl game this season, and needs just two more wins to become bowl eligible.

Penn State is 4-3 overall, 1-3 in Big 10 play. Teams need six wins to qualify for a bowl game.

Ohio State kept its Big 10, and possible national, title hopes alive by improving to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play.

The attached image of Saeed Blacknall is a Patch file photo