UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State defeated UCLA 27-11 in front of 110,047 fans at Beaver Stadium Saturday afternoon.
That much is true.
So to is that Penn State is leaving a lot to be desired on the field and scoreboard.
Regardless of style, Penn State is undefeated heading into a matchup against Southern California next week in what should provide the biggest test of the season so far.
PENN STATE KEEPS HAVING SLUGGISH STARTS
If ever there was a time for a team coming into Beaver Stadium with some jet lag, this afternoon would’ve been it with UCLA arriving after 4 p.m. Friday.
Cross country travel the day before a noon kick. Alternatively, Penn State will head to USC next week a day earlier than usual. https://t.co/0XA6C6NkQX pic.twitter.com/jp3GjJxDS1
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) October 4, 2024
Instead, it was Penn State who looked like it had been hit with some jet lag to start the contest. Penn State went three-and-out to start the game then managed only six plays on their following drive.
Defensively, Penn State didn’t give up a point until the second quarter. But it gave up 46 and 21 yards respectively on the two first quarter drives. The defense did turn it up quite a bit as the game wore on, but starting the game hot is going to be a factor moving forward.
PENN STATE NEEDS TO FINISH, FINISH, FINISH
PSU ground out a 16-play, 82-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that showed this offense has the capability to slow down the game whenever it wants to.
It also showed the offense has the finishing power to score and finish drives, something that wasn’t always the case against UCLA. Penn State punted on their first two possessions including a three-and-out on its first drive of the game.
PSU settled for two field goals in the second half which can be viewed as both a positive and negative. The positive, of course, is Ryan Barker made both field goals. The negative is that Penn State couldn’t finish drives inside their own 30-yard line.
Getting into the end zone will be of utmost importance as conference play reaches a fever pitch against USC in Los Angeles this week. Drives that ended in field goals this week, need to finish in the end zone next week.
DELIBERATE IN ACTION
Coach James Franklin is a deliberate person both in action and in coaching. It should serve as no surprise that was on full display against UCLA.
PSU faced a quarterback who it scouted using his high school film and dominated once again defensively outside of the two scoring drives UCLA had. Those scoring drives resulted in 54.2-percent of the offensive production against Penn State Saturday.
Him being deliberate also is a big reason why the biggest question mark of the week was the status of Nick Singleton. Singleton was in full pads, participated in warmups, but did not cross the sideline until the game was over. To be honest, he wasn’t needed against UCLA and keeping him on the sideline allows him to go into next week’s contest against USC with fresh legs.
PSU is doing ย everything it needs to do to win and is doing so with relative ease. This game was never really in danger of an upset but the scoreboard ended up much closer than necessary. What’s important is Penn State won and is now heading in to a colossal match-up at USC with no blemishes to date.