The Penn State Nittany Lions are officially 5-0. Despite the win against the Northwestern Wildcats, Penn State’s offense started off very slow in the game. The defense came out strong, but the offense struggled to make the most of it. The Nittany Lions still walked away with a 41-13 win, knocking Northwestern to a 2-3 record. Here is a look back on the win and how the team, specifically Penn State’s offense, needs to improve.
Penn State’s Offense Slow First Half
Penn State came out firing in week four against Iowa, but unfortunately, that did not happen again. This week’s matchup looked a lot more like their week three game against Illinois. It seemed as though they were not even awake while on the field. Their defense did well, but while forcing Northwestern to punt, Penn State’s offense could not make it count when they got the ball back. The second half was a different story, but the Nittany Lions should not have had to chase the Wildcats to start the game.
Running back Kaytron Allen did exit the game in the second quarter with an injury, which means running back Nicholas Singleton got the brunt of the plays. The team ended up with 134 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, according to ESPN. The three touchdowns came from Singleton, Trey Potts, and Drew Allar. While Allar did struggle, he had one passing touchdown. In the fourth quarter, when the team was finally up by enough points, quarterback Beau Pribula entered the game and had one pass, which resulted in a 30-yard touchdown.
Penn State WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith (1) – Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports
The leading receiver against Northwestern was KeAndre Lambert-Smith. He has become the team’s number one receiver, and he helped get Penn State’s offense down the field. He had four receptions for 86 yards against Northwestern. Singleton was used as a receiver quite often as well. He ended up with six receptions for 39 yards and one touchdown. Penn State’s offense has the weapons to throw to, but they can’t continue to play how they did in the first half against Northwestern.
Drew Allar’s Struggles
At the heart of Penn State’s offense is their young quarterback. This was not a great game for the Nittany Lions’ quarterback, though. Allar was very off-target to start the game. Toward the end, he did improve on his passes, but this is still a game that he will need to bounce back from. According to ESPN, Allar ended up completing 18 passes out of 33 attempts for 189 yards. He also had one passing touchdown to Singleton. In the first half, Allar had just 91 passing yards. Allar and the rest of Penn State’s offense will need to fix this moving forward. They cannot let these slow starts continue just because there is an early start time.
Penn State QB Drew Allar (15) – Joe Hermitt/pennlive.com
Overall Team Must Avoid Penalties
It is not just that Penn State is called for penalties; sometimes, they are genuinely avoidable and dumb penalties that cost the team. There were false starts and offsides that hurt them, but there was one play that could have definitely messed up this team.
On a first down play at the Northwestern 40, quarterback Ben Briant threw a deep pass to A.J. Henning at the Penn State 36. It was an incompletion, but Penn State’s Cam Miller threw the ball at the Northwestern sideline, which ended up being unsportsmanlike conduct. It may not have been a big issue, but it was an avoidable flag that resulted in an automatic first down. Northwestern ended up kicking the field goal by the end of the drive. The Nittany Lions need to clean this up, as the easily avoidable penalties can cost them games in closer matchups.
Penn State DT Coziah Izzard (99) – Joe Hermitt/pennlive.com
What’s Next for Penn State
Next up, the Penn State Nittany Lions actually have a bye week. They lucked out with this week being able to rest with the injury to Allen. Then, in week seven they will head home to face the University of Massachusetts. Penn State’s offense cannot let what happened against Northwestern happen again. There are no excuses for how they played, and will need to start strong in their next game. They will need to use the next two weeks to get healthy and then come back stronger.
