Blue Hen Down: Penn State 63, Delaware 7

||

That went about as expected.

Heading into the game on Saturday, Penn State was expected to win big. Once the game kicked off, it didn’t take long for that expectation to turn into a reality as the Nittany Lions cruised to an easy victory over Delaware 63-7.

Penn State leaned on a balanced attack early, rushing 29 times and throwing 22 times in the first half. While the rushing game lacked explosive plays — Kaytron Allen’s longest run was 17 yards and Nicholas Singleton’s was just nine yards — it was keeping Penn State on schedule, consistently getting 4-5 yards per carry. Singleton finished the day with 47 yards for three touchdowns on 12 carries, while Kaytron put up 103 yards for one touchdown on 19 carries.

Drew Allar, as always, was fantastic and perfect and just the best quarterback who ever lived. While it was a quiet day passing touchdown wise — he only threw for one, finding Tyler Warren in the end zone in the second quarter — Allar was efficient as could be. He ended the afternoon 22-of-26 for 204 yards and one touchdown, while adding 27 rushing yards and one TD on the ground.

Defensively, it was mostly a good day for the Nittany Lions. Delaware did have one big run from Marcus Yarns which went for 66 yards and the Blue Hens’ lone touchdown, but other than that, it was a rather clean performance for Manny Diaz’s crew. Delaware only completed six passes the entire game, and even including Yarns’ big run, could muster up just 82 yards on the ground. While you might have hoped for a couple more “explosive” defensive plays — 4 sacks and 7 TFLs are modest numbers — the defense largely did what it should have done.

Like other FCS/G5 games in the past, James Franklin used the opportunity to play a lot of backups. Players like defensive end Jameial Lyons and linebacker Tony Rojas flashed defensively, while Beau Pribula got plenty of work, leading the offense for all but one series in the second half. Although Pribula won’t be mistaken for Allar as a pure passer, Pribula did his best Trace McSorley impression, showing off his impressive wheels to the tune of 46 yards on 8 rushing attempts.

All in all, a nice, easy victory for Penn State. It went as expected, which is really all the Nittany Lions could have hoped for heading into Big Ten play with Illinois and Iowa on the docket.

--------------------------------

By: Patrick Koerbler
Title: Blue Hen Down: Penn State 63, Delaware 7
Sourced From: www.blackshoediaries.com/2023/9/9/23865774/blue-hen-down-penn-state-63-delaware-7
Published Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2023 20:40:52 +0000

Read More