Penn State showed complete domination in a game headlined with touchdowns by strong performances from true freshmen Drew Allar and Nick Singleton.
From the start on Saturday afternoon, it was clear Penn State was going to have a great deal of success on both sides of the ball. After winning the coin toss and deferring to the second half, the Nittany Lions' defense got off to a strong start, forcing Ohio to punt after allowing just 13 yards on six plays.
The Nittany Lions' offense on their ensuing possession picked up right where they left off in West Lafeyette last Thursday, driving 77-yards down the field on 12 plays. The drive was capped off by a quarterback sneak out of the t-formation from Sean Clifford to give the Nittany Lions a 7-0 early lead.
After another quality drive out of the Nittany Lions' defense, Penn State would start on their 15-yard. A facemask penalty on the first play of the series would aid the Nittany Lions, pushing them out to their 30-yard line and freshman standout Nick Singleton wouldn't take long to make Ohio pay for the mistake. On the next play, the Shillington (PA) native bounced to the outside en route to a 70-yard touchdown to give Penn State a 14-0 lead.
Following Penn State's third offensive drive of the game, punter Barney Amour would pin the Bobcats at their one-yard line and Manny Diaz's aggressiveness paid off. Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rouke and running Sieh Bangura would bobble the handoff, forcing Rouke to fall on top of the ball in the endzone resulting in a safety. A Jake Pinegar chip-shot a few minutes later would extend their lead to 19-0.
With some trickery and all-around solid play calling, Ohio would finally find some offensive success in their final drive of the first half. Picking apart Penn State's defense going 75-yards over eight plays to cut the Nittany Lions' lead to 19-7.
One of the major takeaways from Penn State's 35-31 win over Purdue in week one was the success of their two-minute offense, scoring touchdowns at both the end of the first and second half in the win. That success carried over against Ohio, as Sean Clifford and the Nittany Lions' offense was able to go 78-yards on just eight plays and a minute 14 of clock time ending with Sean Clifford threading the needle between two Ohio defensive backs and finding Mitchell Tinsley in the endzone for a touchdown. The score would give Penn State a 26-7 lead heading into halftime.
The second half would start promising for Penn State, Nick Singleton would take his first carry of the half for 48-yards, taking the ball all the way to Ohio's 27-yard line. However, a run for just two yards and then two off-target Clifford passes would force the Nittany Lions to attempt a 42-yard field goal in which Jake Pinegar kicked wide right.
On their second drive of the second half, Penn State fans got their first look at freshman quarterback Drew Allar at home. The former four-star quarterback like against Purdue was immediately impressive going 3-for-3 on his first for 51-yards, the exclamation point of the drive being a beautifully placed pass to fellow freshman wide receiver Omari Evans to put Penn State up 33-7.
After a three-and-out on their third drive of the second half, the Nick Singleton show returned to Beaver Stadium. on just his 10th carry of the day and reminiscent of his first touchdown, SIngleton was able to beat Ohio's defenders to the outside and went 44-yards for his second touchdown of the game.
Drew Allar would pick up his second touchdown pass of the game just one drive later. Allar showed veteran poise and decision-making on the drive including avoiding pressure from Ohio's front seven and finding redshirt freshman tight end Khalil Dinkins in the endzone to extend Penn State's lead to 46-7. Jake Pinegar notably would miss the ensuing extra point.
The Bobcats would add a field goal midway through the fourth quarter to cut Penn State's lead to 46-10, the ultimate final score in the contest. While Ohio was able to pick up 76 yards on that field goal drive, the Nittany Lions allowed just 264 total yards of offense to the Bobcats. It was a simply dominating effort out of Manny Diaz's defense.
For the offense, the numbers were just as good, 572 total yards of offense including 234 yards on the ground. They did struggle on third down in the game, going 3-for-12 but overall, it's an offensive performance that James Franklin and his coaching staff should be extremely happy about.
For Penn State, Saturday's blowout victory over Ohio was exactly what the Nittany Lions needed. The starters were able to establish a large enough lead in the first half to get the Nittany Lions' backups considerable playing time in the second half, helping to build the depth throughout the program.
Now 2-0 on the season, Penn State will travel to Auburn next weekend to take on the currently 1-0 Tigers with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and televised nationally on CBS. Auburn will look to get to 2-0 themselves later on today at 7:30 p.m. against San Jose State.
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