No. 2 Penn State continued its nonconference stretch on Saturday with a 34-0 win over FIU that was comfortable but not convincing. The Nittany Lion offense was sluggish in the first half with only 10 points, but the defense more than picked up the slack by pitching a shutout and preventing the Panthers from making this game close. Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of how Penn State fared.
Quarterback: C
It certainly wasn’t Drew Allar’s cleanest performance on Saturday. The senior quarterback wasn’t as accurate as we’ve come to expect, especially in the first half. He underthrew a few deep passes, threw behind receivers on several plays and completely missed Nick Singleton on a swing pass on a third-and-7. His highlight of the first half was the touchdown pass to Khalil Dinkins, where he was flushed out of the pocket and put a nice touch on the ball to get it over the defender.
Allar and the offense as a whole looked better in the third quarter. Allar hit quick passes and used tempo well to move the ball downfield. His 42-yard touchdown pass to Devonte Ross was a pretty rainbow, and his Ross came through with a great catch. He finished the game with 200 yards and two touchdowns on 58% completion.
Running Backs: B+
Penn State ran the ball well against FIU, with Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton combining for 220 yards and two touchdowns on 29 total carries. Allen had the best play of the game late in the fourth quarter, showcasing his vision and balance by tightroping the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown. During the first half, the running backs were contained pretty well by FIU, but over time, they started getting bigger gains. You’d like to see the big plays come earlier, but overall not much to complain about.
Receivers and Tight Ends: B
Penn State worked a lot of short passes against the Panthers, but didn’t have…
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