Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from Cotton Bowl win over Memphis

Penn State football took a while to heat up, but the Nittany Lions pulled away from Memphis to win the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 1975.

For a while it looked like Memphis would break through and become the fourth Group of Five team in the first six years of the College Football Playoff era to take down a Power Five opponent in a New Year’s Six bowl. The Tigers were up 13-7 at the end of the first quarter at the Cotton Bowl against Penn State, but that lead proved ephemeral.

The Nittany Lions turned the amps up to 11 in the second quarter, racking up four touchdowns and taking a 35-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. James Franklin’s team fended off a Memphis comeback bid in the second half and claimed their 11th win of the season in a 53-39 finish that ruined the fairy tale for the Tigers.

It was the type of result that will likely put the Nittany Lions among the preseason contenders in the 2020 polls as they receive a bowl bump in the rankings. Memphis acquitted themselves well in defeat, but they also lose some key pieces on both sides of the ball — not to mention Mike Norvell, who was already in Tallahassee at his new job with Florida State when the Tigers suited up against Penn State.

How much should we read into the result at AT&T Stadium in the first of the New Year’s Six bowls this postseason? Here are three things to take away into the offseason after Penn State took down Memphis in the Cotton Bowl on the final Saturday of 2019.