#11 Penn State Nittany Lions defeats Unranked Maryland Terrapins 51-15. Next week, Penn State hosts Michigan while Maryland travels to play Nebraska.
1st Quarter: Penn State Quarterback Drew Allar throws a 6-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Dante Cephas. Penn State Defensive End Adisa Isaac forces a fumble on Maryland Wide Receiver Tai Felton and Defensive Tackle Zane Durant recovers which gives Penn State the ball at their 37-yard line. Penn State Backup Quarterback Beau Pribula takes the snap and flips it back to Drew Allar who shovel passes a 2-yard touchdown to Tight End Theo Johnson.
2nd Quarter: Maryland Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa throws a 7-yard touchdown to Running Back Roman Hemby. Drew Allar throws an 8-yard touchdown to Tight End Tyler Warren. Penn State leads 21-7 at halftime.
3rd Quarter: Penn State Kicker Alex Felkins kicks a 31-yard field goal.
4th Quarter: Drew Allar throws a 15-yard touchdown to Dante Cephas. Taulia Tagovailoa throws a 1-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Jeshaun Jones(the 2-point conversion was successful with a run by Maryland Running Back Antwain Littleton II). Penn State Running Back Kaytron Allen runs in a 10-yard touchdown. Taulia Tagovailoa throws an interception to Linebacker Dominic DeLuca who returns it to the Maryland 20-yard line. Following the interception, Beau Pribula comes in for Drew Allar. Alex Felkins kicks a 35-yard field goal. Penn State Linebacker Tony Rojas forces a strip sack on Taulia Tagovailoa, and Defensive Tackle Jordan van den Berg recovers at the Maryland 26-yard line. Alex Felkins kicks a 39-yard field goal. Maryland Backup Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. comes in and immediately throws an interception to Tony Rojas who gives Penn State the ball at the Maryland 12-yard line. Beau Pribula runs in a 6-yard touchdown. Penn State wins 51-15.
Nittany Lions Notes:
Offense-Drew Allar had a fantastic game. If there is anything I would want him to work on it is throwing to Wide Receivers and he did that when he found a new weapon in Dante Cephas who scored two touchdowns. I wish there would be a balance between running Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen while passing as well as they did in this game because Singleton was left out of this game.
Run Defense-Best run defense I have seen from Penn State. Penn State allowed -49 rushing yards which is the fewest in school history since 1947 when they allowed -107 rushing yards against Syracuse. Now I know the run defense has completely improved since the last Michigan game. Let’s hope this continues next week.
Pass Defense-At the beginning of the game you could see the struggles playing against a very good Quarterback in Taulia Tagovailoa but eventually, the pressure got to him, and the secondary capitalized forcing him to throw an interception and his backup to struggle immediately.
Offensive Play Calling-This was arguably the best-called game from the offense all year. Again the only issue I want to see addressed is balancing the duo of Singleton and K-Train getting enough carries while the pass offense looks like it did.
Defensive Play Calling-The defense did have a bit of a roller coaster first half but like Manny Diaz always does he adjusted and dominated the second half.
-Jordan Burden