They desperately needed a victory over Michigan to change their fortunes in the Big Ten and make a run at a top-shelf bowl game.

It's a crushing defeat for the LionsВ - their fourth in five games now. But it couldn't muster a single first down before giving the ball away. Of course, the PSU offense still had plenty of time for a game-winning drive. This came immediately after Penn State had scored 10-straight points to take the leadВ - much of that because of a surging defense. They allowed him to not only catch a key first-down pass but motor all the way down the right sideline for the go-ahead touchdown late. The Nittany Lions had fought all the way back to secure a season-turning victory over a Top 10 team in front of their sold-out crowd.ДЄnd they gave it all away on offense and defense in the final three minutes, losing 21-17.ДЇirst, this sturdy defense lost track of Michigan tight end Erick All while concentrating on stopping the run. I knew where I had to be.Watch Video: Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Cade McNamara's play this season PSU gives away victory at the end Looking back on his Penn State undergraduate career and the development of his own startup, Swisher said, вЂњThis is exactly what I wanted to do.

He added that the PhospholutionвЂ™s product has already been certified organic for the state of Pennsylvania and the company is pursuing national certification. The fertilizer that is reapplied to the field will never re-enter the waterway, so weвЂ™ve closed this loop.вЂќ We can remove it with our product and reapply it upstream in the agricultural fields as a controlled-release fertilizer. We can go into areas like the Chesapeake where all of these estuaries lead into the bay and we can basically remove the fertilizer thatвЂ™s been dissolved in the water. But really where our company is going is remediation. вЂњWe started in turf because there is a lot of value added to golf courses by applying our product. He envisions his product playing a key role in helping to clean up watersheds such as the Chesapeake Bay. I leveraged the Penn State network to get all of the in-field research done for basically everything from our marketing materials to proving our product worked.вЂќД«ut Swisher sees the impact of Phospholutions going far beyond golf courses. So we reached out to fifteen superintendents who were all Penn State alumni across the East Coast. Swisher continued, вЂњWe wanted to replicate those results. In turn, that created a savings in water, fertilizer, and other chemicals.вЂќ After just one application, we showed that we can double the root depth on golf courses in less than two months. I said, вЂHey, I have an idea, can we run some trials?вЂ™ We got phenomenal results. вЂњSo I approached Rick Pagett, who is a Penn State alumnus and superintendent of the Penn State Golf Courses. He decided to turn to the UniversityвЂ™s alumni network for help. SwisherвЂ™s business concept won numerous pitch competitions and garnered support from a local investor.Д«ut even with financing and support, SwisherвЂ™s new company- Phospholutions-still had to overcome a key hurdle: testing. He also worked with the Small Business Development Center and Penn State LawвЂ™s Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property clinics. вЂњThis is just another way we live our mission as a university.вЂќДЄs a student, Swisher participated in the Penn State Summer Founders Program, the Ben Franklin TechCelerator and the Happy Valley LaunchBox accelerator. вЂњGetting your ideas into the marketplace is the same thing as having your work in a publication and the same thing as teaching a student,вЂќ said Penn State President Eric Barron. What Invent Penn State had done was provide all of those resources to de-risk the venture for me and allow me to pursue this,вЂќ Swisher said. He released his first product line, Rhizosorb-a non-fertilizer product that promotes root growth in turf, which in turn allows owners to use less water, fertilizer, and other chemicals.Д«ut Swisher faced major hurdles in starting his own company and getting Rhizosorb to market.ДЄt the same time, Penn State President Eric Barron launched Invent Penn State, a University effort to promote entrepreneurship within its campuses and surrounding communities. вЂњThat was when I decided to leave the lab and start the path towards entrepreneurship,вЂќ Swisher said. His idea was to build on a piece of technology that he stumbled across during his undergraduate work and commercialize it. As Penn State alumnus Hunter Swisher explains it, he had one primary goal when he enrolled at the University-to create his own job and work for himself after graduation.

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