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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- As he walked off the field, Blake Gillikin glanced down at his left hand and shook his head in disgust. Thankfully, his feet hadnt let him down.The Penn State punter needed them to chase down a snap that glanced off his bandaged left thumb and bounced close to his teams goal line. With more than 550 pounds of Indiana defenders bearing down on him, Gillikin scooped up the loose ball, accelerated to the right and booted a neat, unreturnable punt past midfield. Although officially a 22-yard net punt, Gillikins long right leg sent the ball on a 47-yard trajectory, preventing a big loss.The hidden yardage or the hidden parts of the game, a lot of people dont see that, special teams coordinator Charles Huff said.Gillikins impacted those areas all season for the No. 9 Nittany Lions (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 8 CFP) who will face Rutgers (2-8, 0-7) and the nations busiest punter Michael Cintron on Saturday.Averaging 41 yards per punt, Gillikin has dropped 17 of his 47 punts inside opponents 20-yard lines, forced 15 fair catches and has seven kicks over 50 yards. More importantly, the Nittany Lions have won the field position battle in eight of their 10 games this season and are forcing opponents to drive at least 76 yards on average every time Gillikin punts.You see some of the punts he kicks and youre like, `Wow, defensive tackle Curtis Cothran said. You didnt expect it to go that far but the ball just keeps sailing and keeps sailing.Plays like Gillikins scramble punt helped Penn State wrestle field position back from Indiana and primed a fourth-quarter comeback. Theyre why James Franklin couldnt wait to recruit a vaunted punter. But he had to wait until the NCAA restored the Nittany Lions to 85 scholarships in 2015. The wait included a 2-16 record in games where Penn State lost the field position battle.Meanwhile, Franklin kept his eye on Gillikin, a three-sport athlete who was booting 50- and 60-yard punts in high school playoff games for Westminster High in Atlanta and had a twin brother who was a long snapper.He quickly won the starting job previously shared by Chris Gulla and former Australian-rules footballer Daniel Pasquariello. It didnt take long for Penn State players to notice Gillikins big leg. He usually warms up by lining his toes up on the goal line and blasting high, hanging punts out to the opposite 40.He was an outstanding soccer player, Tyler Gillikin said. And when we started football in high school, his leg was extremely strong. Blakes always been the kicker.Now a long snapper for Northwestern, Tyler took up the skill as a way to get more playing time alongside his twin during their sophomore year of high school. Theyve combined for countless snaps, and misfires, over the years. Their grandfather sent Tyler the video of Blake mishandling the snap against Indiana last week for a laugh, but also for pride.That pretty much is in a nutshell what kind of athlete he is, Tyler said.His situational awareness was evident on arguably Penn States most consequential hidden play so far this season.After a high snap whistled over his head against Ohio State, Gillikin hustled back across his goal line with Buckeyes in pursuit and collapsed on the ball to salvage a safety rather than let Ohio State score a touchdown. It was a 5-point swing in a game Penn State won by 4 to burst into Big Ten championship contention.You have an athlete where when in the game certain things dont always got the way you planned or maybe not exactly what you said is going to happen -- they dont panic in those situations, Huff said. They allow themselves to still be in the moment, still be able to play and what happens is, you take a bad play and you dont let it become a catastrophe.---This story has been corrected to reflect that Rutgers record is 2-8, not 8-2. Randal Grichuk Blue Jays Jersey . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months. Bud Norris Jersey . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-dalton-pompey-jersey/ . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Justin Smoak Jersey .ca. Kerry, Just watched the shootout in the Coyotes/Leafs game and I have to ask, why was the James van Riemsdyk goal allowed to count? All of the video replays we were shown on TV were inconclusive about whether the puck had entirely crossed the line or not. Paul Molitor Blue Jays Jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. DETROIT -- Chris Sale knew he couldnt let up against J.D. Martinez on Wednesday night, no matter how long the Detroit Tigers slugger had been sidelined.As it turned out, it didnt matter.Sale started the eighth-inning matchup with his best fastball, and Martinez drove it an estimated 434 feet into the shrubs above the centerfield fence. It was the first major league pitch Martinez had faced since fracturing his elbow June 16.Sale said he approached Martinez the same way he would had he been playing every day.Nothing different at all, he said. I havent looked at it again, but I thought it was a good pitch, but hes a great hitter and they do things to win games. Thats what J.D. did to me.The homer put the Tigers up 2-1, but Chicago still had a great chance to keep the game alive against Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth.The White Sox put their first two runners, and Melky Cabrera moved to third on Justin Morneaus fly out. Rodriguez struck out Todd Frazier, but walked Avisail Garcia to load the bases. Dioner Navarro grounded out to second to end the game.I knew he was going to be throwing changeups, and I wanted to get a good pitch to hit, Navarro said. I was just too anxious and got ahead of it.Sale (14-5) took the loss, allowing two runs on six hits in an eight-inning complete game. He walked one and struck out 10.Thats about as sharp as hes looked all season, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. They got one run with a slice down the line, and the other one, you just tip your hat to J.D.A crowd of 32,526 had done more than that, giving Martinez a standing ovation as he made his way to the plate and continuing to cheer until he took a curtain call after the inning.That was probably the coolest moment of my career, he said. I tried to go up there with a plan, but it was so crazy that I just decided to see the ball and hit the ball.The homer turned out to be the winning run, as Detroit won its eighth straight and moved within two games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.That was like a movie, Ian Kinsler said. That was something Ive never seen before. It is certainly good to have him back.Shane Greene (2-2) got the win after pitching out of a seventh-inning jam, while Rodriguez picked up his 30th save.Rookie Michael Fulmer allowed one rrun on five hits in 6 2/3 innings.ddddddddddddSale was making his first start against the Tigers since being a late scratch on July 23 -- the night he cut up the teams throwback jerseys.Fulmer and Sale dueled early, although the rookie was aided by Chicago hitting into three double plays in the first four innings.The Tigers finally broke through in the fourth. Miguel Cabrera led off with a double, Victor Martinez walked and Nick Castellanos hit an RBI double down the right-field line. Sale struck out Justin Upton, and Mike Aviles hit a foul pop down the first-base line. Jose Abreu made a running catch, then turned and easily threw out Victor Martinez at the plate.Fulmer kept rolling until the sixth, when Morneau tied the game with a long two-out homer to right-center. Morneau has hit two of his three homers this season off Fulmer.Frazier walked on four pitches and Fulmer hit Garcia, bringing Greene out of the Tigers bullpen to end the rally. Frazier and Garcia were the 10th and 11th runners inherited by Greene this season, with none having scored.TRAINERS ROOMWhite Sox: OF Charlie Tilson will miss the rest of the season after tearing his hamstring during his major-league debut Tuesday. Tilson is the third White Sox rookie this season to leave his first game with an injury, joining OF Jason Coats and 3B Matt Davidson. C Kevan Smith injured himself warming up for his first game, and ended up on the disabled list before playing.Tigers: Martinez was officially activated from the disabled list after missing seven weeks with a fractured elbow. Martinez didnt start Wednesday -- Brad Ausmus rested him after playing a doubleheader with Triple-A Toledo -- but is expected to start on Thursday. RHP Jordan Zimmermann (neck) will be activated Thursday to start against the White Sox.ROUND NUMBER FOR K-RODRodriguez became the 24th pitcher to reach 900 career games with his appearance in the ninth inning. With LaTroy Hawkins retiring after last season, Rodriguez leads all active players in games pitched.UP NEXTThe teams finish their three-game series Wednesday afternoon with Zimmerman (9-4, 3.95) facing Jose Quintana (8-8, 2.89). ' ' '