Penn State Wins 2 Big Ten Honors After Overtime Victory at USC

The conference recognized Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren and kicker Ryan Barker for their performances against the Trojans.

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren runs by USC Trojans safety Akili Arnold in the second half at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren and kicker Ryan Barker won Big Ten player-of-the-week awards following their clutch performances in the Nittany Lions' 33-30 overtime victory at USC. Warren was named the Big Ten co-offensive player of the week for the first time in his career, and Barker was named Big Ten freshman of the week following just the second start of his career.

Warren played an all-time game for Penn State, catching a school-record 17 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown. Warren set the Big Ten record for receiving yards in a game by a tight end and tied FBS and conference marks for single-game catches by a tight end. Warren became the first Big Ten tight end to top 200 receiving yards since Northwestern's Jon Harvey in 1982.

Warren shared the Big Ten offensive POY award with Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who went 23-for-34 for 341 yards and two touchdowns in the Ducks' win over Ohio State. Warren is the first Penn State player to win an offensive POY award since quarterback Drew Allar in the team's 2023 opener against West Virginia.

Warren also was named AP's national player of the week after catching a touchdown pass on the same play in which he snapped the football. Which the Pop Tarts social-media accounts loved.

RELATED: Penn State loves Andy Kotelnicki's offense, espcially Tyler Warren

4⃣4⃣ is CRAZY GOOD 😉@TheFWAA Pop-Tarts Play of the Week pic.twitter.com/1qGIkfpvdU

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) October 14, 2024

Barker, Penn State's redshirt freshman walk-on kicker, made four field goals, including the overtime game-winner, to earn Big Ten freshman-of-the-week honors. Northwestern's Luke Akers won the special teams award after making three field goals and averaging 49.2 yards on five punt attempts in the Wildcats' 37-10 win at Maryland. Barker became the first Penn State player to win freshman-of-the-week honors since running back Kaytron Allen against Rutgers in 2022.

Penn State won two weekly Big Ten awards for the first time since the 2022 Maryland game, when the conference recognized running back Nicholas Singleton and kicker Jake Pinegar.

Penn State has a bye this week. The Nittany Lions visit Wisconsin on Oct. 19 for their second prime-time game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.