Rutgers Recap: Penn State improves to 2-5 with 23-7 win

With the last few seconds ticking away in Penn State’s visit to Rutgers, backup defensive tackle Dvon Ellies came crashing through the line of scrimmage and wrapped up Noah Vedral 10 yards deep in the backfield. It was a fitting way for the game to end, as the Nittany Lions’ defense dominated the Scarlet Knights at the line of scrimmage in a 23-7 victory.

Coming off a win at Michigan last week in which they came up with several critical stops, the Lions continued to excel on defense, holding Rutgers to 205 yards and one touchdown for the game. Although Vedral returned at quarterback for the Scarlet Knights after missing last week’s win over Purdue, Penn State kept their passing attack in check, holding them to 122 yards through the air. The Lions also shut down the Knights’ running game, limiting them to 83 yards on the ground, with Vedral accounting for 56.

“I think we’ve gotten back to how we played for six years,” Penn State coach James Franklin said, “which is making sure to limit explosive plays, make people earn it, run to the ball, gang tackle – the basic fundamentals of defense, which we’ve done a pretty good job of here for a long time. We got back to that.”

They got back to it in time to salvage something from a season that began with five consecutive losses, the worst start in the program’s history. Now the Lions head into their regular-season finale having won two in a row and with a chance to finish strong.

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

• The Nittany Lions played their best defensive game of the season. They twice stopped Rutgers on fourth-and-short in the first half, and they got a critical stop on fourth-and-6 in the fourth quarter with the Scarlet Knights trying desperately to rally.

“They had a lot of window dressing on their plays, with their speed sweeps and their fake speed sweeps,” Franklin said. “I thought we did a really good job of playing the box, making sure that our front seven handled the box and that our perimeter players handled the speed sweeps and things like that. We were able to be disruptive. We thought we had a chance with our defensive line on their O-line. That’s two weeks in a row where, at critical times, our defense was able to make significant stops.”

In addition, when a Devyn Ford fumble gave the Scarlet Knights a short field, Penn State shoved them backward. Rutgers had taken over at the Penn State 36-yard line in the second quarter but ended up losing 13 yards, thanks to a holding penalty and a gadget play that went nowhere when Bo Melton was dragged down for an 8-yard loss. Said Franklin, “Even when we turned the ball over on our side of the field, our defense stepped up in sudden-change defense and played extremely well.”

• Coming off a breakout game last week at Michigan, Keyvone Lee had 95 yards on 17 carries, averaging 5.6 yards per attempt. The true freshman running back had one of the afternoon’s biggest plays, rumbling 31 yards after Penn State had gotten trapped deep in its own end of the field in the fourth quarter. The run helped set up a late field goal.

• For the second week in a row, the Nittany Lions got off to a strong start, avoiding the first- and second-quarter problems that plagued them in their first five games. The Lions held the ball for 10 minutes, 19 seconds in the first quarter, taking an early 7-0 lead even though Sean Clifford was throwing into a blustery wind. By halftime, the lead had grown to 17-0.

• Penn State was penalized only once in the game, and it wasn’t until the final five minutes, when Cam Sullivan-Brown was flagged for an illegal block. Said Franklin, “Except for the very first game [against Indiana], which was very, very unusual, we’ve [been] one of the more disciplined teams in the country when it comes to penalties.”

• Jordan Stout hit a 47-yard field goal and did a nice job on kickoffs, neutralizing dangerous return man Aron Cruickshank by getting touchbacks on four of six attempts. The only two kickoffs that were returnable were into the wind, and Penn State gave up a total of just 24 yards on those.

Also, despite the inhospitable field conditions, Penn State went 3 for 3 on field goals and 2 for 2 on PATs.

• After looking good in the first two quarters, Penn State’s offense struggled for long stretches, generating only six points over the game’s final 30 minutes. The quarterback runs that worked in the first half yielded ever-diminishing results in the second.

Part of the problem was that Rutgers could count on a quarterback run whenever Will Levis was in the game. The redshirt sophomore had 17 carries and no passing attempts on Saturday. Between them, Levis and Clifford had 25 carries for 86 yards. Even if you take out Rutgers’ two sacks on the afternoon, the two Penn State quarterbacks averaged 3.8 yards between them.

Franklin said afterward that the Lions need to create a more credible passing threat when Levis is in the game. But they were playing in turnover-friendly field conditions on Saturday, and their offense has been interception-prone this season even when the wind isn’t doing unpredictable things to long passes.

“The weather was significant today, it affected both offenses,” Franklin said. “But there’s no doubt about it, we have to mix some passing in there with Will in the game to make sure that they respect it.”

• Even with Penn State playing it safe, the turnover problems resurfaced. Ford fumbled late in the second quarter, and a high pass by Clifford in the third quarter was tipped and intercepted by Christian Izien, setting up Rutgers’ first touchdown.

• Once again, the Lions had difficulties in the red zone. They went into the game with touchdowns on only 11 of 25 red zone opportunities to rank 125th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Against Rutgers, they settled for a field goal after reaching the 12-yard line in the second quarter, and they settled again in the fourth quarter, getting a 27-yarder from Jake Pinegar that boosted their lead to 16 points but kept the game within reach for the Scarlet Knights.

Penn State will conclude its scheduled games at home next week against Michigan State. The battle for the Land Grant Trophy used to be an annual season-ender for both teams, as the Nittany Lions and Spartans wrapped up their Big Ten campaigns against each other every year from 1993 to 2010. But this year’s game will mark the first time since 2016 that they’ve met in the season finale.

The Spartans have been wildly unpredictable in their first season under Mel Tucker. They opened with a 38-27 loss to visiting Rutgers, and they’ve also been pounded by Iowa (49-7), Indiana (24-0) and Ohio State (52-12). But their two wins have both been over ranked opponents, as Michigan was 13th before falling to the Spartans, 27-24, in Ann Arbor, while Northwestern was eighth until dropping a 29-20 decision in East Lansing.

Against the Buckeyes on Saturday, Michigan State was manhandled, managing only 261 yards of total offense while giving up 322 rushing yards. Starting quarterback Rocky Lombardi was injured on a second-quarter sack, and redshirt freshman Payton Thorne finished the game. Thorne looked pretty good in relief, throwing for 147 yards and rushing for a team-best 42. But by the time he scooted 20 yards in the third quarter to get Michigan State on the scoreboard, the Buckeyes were up by 35 points.

The Spartans will be facing a rejuvenated Penn State team on Saturday in Beaver Stadium. And while home field means little this year – the Nittany Lions are still looking for their first home win of the season – the team is coming into the game feeling good about what it’s been able to accomplish lately.

“There were a lot of good things [against Rutgers] to build on, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and especially in the running game on offense,” Franklin said. “Most importantly, we’re 1-0 this week, on the road. We’re going to enjoy this trip back to Happy Valley.”

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