Just like that, another Penn State regular season is complete.
On Friday evening in Detroit, the Penn State NIttany Lions dominated Michigan State to the tune of 42-0 to etch win No. 10 of the season. It marks the Nittany Lions' second-straight 10-win season, after going 11-2 last season which included a Rose Bowl victory over Utah.
It also marks the fifth 10-win season in the last eight years for the program under head coach James Franklin. It is notably the first time the program has been able to accomplish such a feat since 1980 through 1986, doing so under then-head coach Joe Paterno, the Nittany Lions won a pair of national championships during that run in 1982 and 1986.
In the win, the Nittany Lions' offense for the first time all season was explosive from start to finish.
Drew Allar had one of his best games as a Nittany Lion, completing 17-of-26 passing attempts for 292 yards and two scores, the Nittany Lions running back duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both averaged over 6.0 yards per carry and 10 different players recorded a reception in the win. In total, the Nittany Lions finished with 586 yards of total offense to Michigan State's mere 68.
It was by far the Nittany Lions' most explosive day of the year with 12 plays of 10+ yards including six pass plays of 15+ yards.
In the first half, the Nittany Lions struggled with converting long drives into points, settling for field goal attempts on each of their first three drives of the game which went for 43 yards, 68 yards, and 71 yards. Alex Felkins made two of three attempts, making attempts from 49 and 30 yards while missing a 40-yard attempt in between.
On the fourth drive, the Nittany Lions would finally break through going 64 yards on 10 plays before Kaytron Allen was able to punch it in from two yards out to make it a 13-0 lead. It marked Allen's seventh touchdown of the season.
For the Penn State defense, it was pure domination from start to finish. Michigan State on their first drive would find some early success including a 30-yard passing attempt from Katin Houser to Montorie Foster Jr that put the Spartans in Penn State territory. A few plays later, Houser would intend to throw a pass across the middle to Tyrell Reed but Detroit native Jaylen Reed would make a diving interception. That would be just one of two drives that the partans would take into Penn State territory. For the majority of their drives, the Spartans failed to get past their own 30-yard line, with 10 of 12 drives failing to get past the Spartans' own 30-yard line.
For the game, the Nittany Lions' defense kept Michigan State to just 68 total yards including -20 rushing yards on 27 rushing attempts. The Spartans were able to garner 88 passing yards on 12-of-20 attempts with 30 of those yards coming on their first drive.
After struggling to find the endzone in the first half, Penn State's offense would make it a habit in the second half with four touchdowns in the final 30 minutes of play, while outgaining Michigan State 278 to -32 in the second half en route to the win.
Beau Pribula would pick up his first touchdown of the day early in the third quarter on an RPO pass to Tyler Warren that put the Nittany Lions up 21-0 following a successful two-point conversion pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith. One drive later, Pribula picked up a rushing touchdown, his sixth of the season to extend Penn State's lead to 28-0.
A Theo Johnson 21-yard touchdown reception from Drew Allar and a 14-yard run by Nicholas Singelton would add to Penn State's lead in the fourth quarter ultimately leading to the final score of 42-0.
Key figures
- Drew Allar bookmarks his regular season with games of 325 yards and 292 yards, he finishes the regular season by completing 214-of-349 passing attempts (61.3%) for 2,336 yards and 23 passing TDs to one INT. Also had 316 rushing yards and four TDs for a total of 2,652 total yards and 27 TDs with just two turnovers.
- Both Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singelton totaled over 100 yards in the game including a career-high 137 yards for Allen who averaged 9.1 yards per carry.
- 10 different wide receivers recorded receptions in the win for Penn State with Theo Johnson leading the way with four receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown.
- Penn State racked up 12 tackles for a loss and seven sacks in the game. They finished the regular season with 101 tackles for a loss and 48 sacks. In 25 games as Penn State's defensive coordinator, Manny Diaz's Nittany Lions' defenses have totaled 90 sacks and 205 TFLs. That's an average of 3.6 sacks per game and 8.2 TFLs per game.
Up Next:
Penn State's 2023 regular season is now complete and they will wait till next Sunday, December 3 to find out their eventual bowl destination. With the win, it seems likely that the Nittany Lions will be going to a New Year's Six bowl for the fifth time in the James Franklin era. The popular projections for Penn State are currently the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl.
Stay tuned at Happy Valley Insider as we provide more coverage on Penn State's loss to Michigan and where the Nittany Lions go from here.
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