After several weekly awards throughout the year, it is fitting that Penn State had two players take home conference honors following the season finale.

Senior defensive tackle Jordan Hill was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week while kicker Sam Ficken won the award for Special Teams Playoer of the Week.

Hill played arguably the most dominant game of his career with 12 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2 sacks. He made life miserable for Montee Ball and Curt Phillips in the second half and overtime, helping hold Wisconsin to only 7 points as the Nittany Lions rallied for a 24-21 victory.

Ficken played a huge role in the victory including hitting a 37-yard field goal to give the Nittany Lions the lead in overtime. The sophomore placekicker also made 2 additonal field goals earlier in the game. After well-publicized struggles early in the seaon, he converted his last 10 attempts of the year.

Following Saturday’s win, Ficken and Hill both spoke candidly about their seasons and what the win meant for the program. Ficken said that he believed the final kick was a high point for him and conquered the confidence issues he dealt with early on.

Hill spoke about the game representing everything the team had been through since last November and how tweaking a knee injury was not going to keep him off the field in the final minutes.

Hill would go on to talk about how he was not paying any attention to his stats, only telling himself that there was no way he was letting the Nittany Lions lose the game. He and Ficken now have awards for their efforts to go along with the memorable victory.