Game Recap: Lions move to 5-0 following 35-7 win over Purdue

Penn State enjoyed only one great offensive quarter against Purdue on Saturday, but it played four quarters of spectacular defense, and that was more than enough.

The Nittany Lions kept Jack Plummer on the run all afternoon, nearly tying the school record for most sacks in a game. Except for a couple of big plays in the second quarter, they overwhelmed an injury-riddled Boilermaker offense in a 35-7 homecoming victory.

“Defensively, we’re doing some special things right now,” coach James Franklin said. “It starts up front. When your defensive line can stop the run and pressure the quarterback from four-down, when you get 13 tackles for loss in a game and 10 sacks and hold someone to minus-19 yards rushing, [you’re] playing championship-level defense, and we’ve been doing it for a number of weeks. So I’m very, very pleased and impressed with that.”

After scoring four early touchdowns, the Nittany Lions struggled to move the ball consistently. Their offensive lull might have revived some concerns from earlier in the season, as Purdue was able to avoid falling hopelessly behind the way Maryland had a week earlier in a 59-0 loss to PSU.

But there was no doubting Penn State’s performance on defense. It held the Big Ten’s top passing offense to 123 yards through the air, albeit with several of their most important playmakers on the sideline due to injuries.

Here’s a look at the good and the bad:

THE GOOD

• Purdue’s first two drives ended in Shaka Toney sacks. Those plays foreshadowed a huge afternoon by Penn State’s defensive line against a patchwork Purdue offensive front. The Nittany Lions had seven sacks in the first half alone and finished the game with 10. Toney finished with three, while Yetur Gross-Matos had two, bringing his season total to 5.5.

“I do think [Toney] set the tone,” Franklin said. “When you can beat someone like that, it kind of gets into their head and creates some confidence issues, and now we’ve got other guys rotating in and doing some things as well.”

• Senior cornerback John Reid did a very good job against David Bell, holding Purdue’s rising star receiver to three catches for 59 yards. The Lions held Purdue to a season-worst passing performance even though starting cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields left the game in the first quarter with an injury.

• Freshman running back Noah Cain had his first 100-yard game at Penn State, finishing with 105 yards, including 64 yards on Penn State’s only scoring drive of the second half. Cain averaged 8.8 yards per carry.

• Purdue went into the game with the Big Ten’s worst pass defense, and the Nittany Lions took full advantage during their first-quarter outburst, starting with a 23-yard touchdown catch by K.J. Hamler on their first possession and continuing later in the quarter with a 72-yard score by Jahan Dotson. Purdue coach Jeff Brohm had complained after last week’s loss to Minnesota about seeing “way too many open guys down the field, way too many guys not being disruptive at the line of scrimmage, way too many holes in the secondary.” Brohm started two new cornerbacks this week, and while he eventually saw what he presumably wanted to see as the game went on, the Lions were still able to build a 28-point lead that would prove insurmountable. Said Franklin, “We took some shots down the field, and we hit them early in the game.”

THE BAD

• After Penn State scored touchdowns on its first four possessions, its offense struggled for much of the final three quarters. The Lions gained 225 total yards on those four scoring drives to open the game, then gained 235 on their final 12. The tone of the game seemed to change when Sean Clifford was intercepted on a deep ball with Penn State leading 28-0 in the second quarter.

“I thought we were real sharp offensively until we had the interception,” Franklin said. “We backed that up with a turnover on special teams, and then we just were inconsistent from that point on.”

• It wasn’t a great day for the special teams. The Lions blew a chance to get the ball back in terrific field position late in the first half when a punt bounced off of Jonathan Sutherland’s knee and was recovered by Purdue. Earlier in the second quarter, Jake Pinegar missed a 35-yard field goal. And Jordan Stout, who had been a touchback machine in Penn State’s first four games, didn’t reach the end zone on his first kickoff, allowing Purdue’s Jackson Anthrop to return the ball to the 33-yard line. Later in the first half, Stout sent a kickoff out of bounds, giving the Boilermakers possession at the 35.

• Penn State lost the turnover battle. In addition to the bungled punt return, there was Clifford’s interception, and backup quarterback Will Levis mishandled a snap late in the fourth. The Lions’ only takeaway came on a fumble recovery in the final minute.

• Clifford absorbed a huge blow from Purdue cornerback Cam Allen while sliding for a first down in the first quarter. Allen put his shoulder into Clifford’s helmet, and a booth-initiated replay resulted in Allen’s ejection and a 15-yard penalty.

• We’ll never be able to quantify the extent to which Penn State’s success on Saturday was due to the devastating run of injuries that the Boilermakers have suffered this year. So let’s just say it was significant. The Boilers went into the game without Rondale Moore, Elijah Sindelar, Markus Bailey, Lorenzo Neal and many, many others, and their bad luck streak continued against Penn State, as linebacker Cornell Jones left the game in the first quarter with an apparent leg injury and defensive tackle Anthony Watts exited in the third with what appeared to be an elbow problem. Throw in Allen’s ejection, and the Boilers were nowhere near full strength against Penn State.

LOOKING AHEAD

While the Nittany Lions were facing Purdue, their next two opponents were tangling in Ann Arbor. Michigan ended up winning a defensive slugfest, 10-3, a game in which neither team was able to score in the second half. The Wolverines forced four turnovers, including three interceptions of senior quarterback Nate Stanley, who hadn’t thrown a pick all year before Saturday.

The Hawkeyes will be facing another formidable defense when they play host to the Lions next week. Will they see a formidable offense, too? Penn State looked dominant at times against Purdue, but it struggled at times, too, and it’s getting set to head into one of the Big Ten’s most hostile road environments. The key for Penn State, Franklin said, is to become more consistent.

“We’ll enjoy this win tonight, but we’ve got some things that we’ve got to get cleaned up,” he said. “And that’s always going to be the case. ... There are always going to be things on tape that we’ve got to get cleaned up. At this level, that’s what it’s about. It’s about consistency. You have certain players or certain programs that are able to do it from time to time. But the great programs and the great players are able to do it consistently.”