Michigan's Shea Patterson Says His Eye Was Gouged in Pile vs. Penn St.
Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson told reporters that a Penn State player gouged his eye while the two were in a pile on the goal line of the Nittany Lions' 28-21 home win over the Wolverines last Saturday.
"Yeah, dude had his index finger in my eye, my whole—in my eye socket, for about, like I said, 10 seconds," Patterson said per Orion Sang of the Detroit Free Press. "That wasn't good."
Angelique S. Chengelis of Detroit News provided video of Patterson's comments.
The play in question occurred with Michigan down 28-14 and sitting at the Penn State 1-yard line with 8:48 left in the fourth quarter.
On 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Patterson snuck in to pull Michigan within one possession. However, he paid the price.
"That was not fun at all," Patterson said. "They had me for a good 10 seconds in there.
"I was trying to reach the ball across the plane. I know for a good while I was screaming for my life. Wasn't too happy about that."
Patterson told reporters that his vision was "a little blurry for a second" but that the symptom "didn't last too long."
Per Sang, Patterson said he didn't see who had gouged his eye.
The signal-caller did not reveal the act initially, as Michigan offensive tackle Jon Runyan Jr. told reporters on his own.
"Shea played lights-out that game. I loved his composure. His leadership. Even on the touchdown, the QB sneak, I can't believe it, but we were down there, and we were in the pile—I wasn't in it—but Shea was getting his eyes gouged out in the scrum," Runyan said per Sang.
"He was still fighting, people were getting in his eyes. He came to the sidelines, tears all in his eyes. It was ridiculous that people were trying to gouge his eyes out. But he kept fighting for us and I appreciate it. He's an awesome leader."
Penn State went three-and-out after the Patterson touchdown, giving Michigan a chance to tie or win the game down the stretch. The Wolverines got as far as the Nittany Lion 3-yard line, but they turned the ball over on downs.
Michigan, which is No. 19 in the Associated Press poll, hosts No. 8 Notre Dame on Saturday. No. 6 PSU will visit Michigan State on the same day.
