Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny becomes the first player in Big Ten history to earn at least a share of Player of the Week accolades in any category for three straight weeks after leading the Nittany Lions with 14 tackles and two tackles for loss (-13 yards), including a sack (-10 yards), in a 17-10 win over nationally-ranked Ohio State.
Posluszny shares this week’s award with Northwestern’s Tim McGarigle.
Posluszny, a junior linebacker, spearheaded a PSU defense that limited the Buckeyes to no points in the second half and only 10 points for the game, nearly 20 points below their season average of 28.5 points per contest entering the week. Posluszny picked up his sack with less than six minutes left in the game to force a third-and-17 and eventual punt on OSU’s second-to-last possession. He now has three weekly defensive awards this season, which equals Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald (1995) and Wisconsin’s Tom Burke (1998) for the single-season Big Ten record, and his four career weekly accolades equal the league record held by Fitzgerald (1993-96), PSU’s Courtney Brown (1996-99) and Minnesota’s Tyrone Carter (1996-99).