Penn State football beat Nevada 46-11 on Saturday. Here's what is being said about the Lions' win.
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State scored first but not last on Saturday in a 46-11 win over Nevada. The Nittany Lions’ new pass catchers met expectations while the defense suffocated the visiting Wolf Pack for most of the 60 minutes of play at Beaver Stadium.
What’s being said locally and nationally about the win?
Frank Bodani of the York Daily Record looked at the Lions’ offense. Penn State put up plenty of points and yards but missed numerous chances to score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals. The attack stalled out four different times deep in Wolf Pack territory, including one in a goal-to-go situation.
“Drew Allar played small ball for most of the first half, finding transfer receivers Kyron Hudson and Trebor Pena early and often but for short gains before a closing touchdown pass,” Bodani writes. “Allar was superbly efficient, overall. However, the highly-regarded offensive line didn’t control the outcome and impress as expected in the run or pass games, at least for now.
“They certainly didn’t overwhelm the Wolf Pack, at least by how they went about the lopsided victory. They had to grind things out far too much on offense, settling for four field goals on what appeared as likely touchdown drives.”
More: ‘Well rounded’ Penn State end Dani Dennis-Sutton started 2025 with a bang, and that’s a big deal for the Lions
PennLive’s Max Ralph, meanwhile, focused on the ‘superstar’ performance Dani Dennis-Sutton turned in. The Penn State pass rusher forced two fumbles and had a sack in addition to five tackles (two for loss).
“The former five-star flashed this kind of dominance during the College Football Playoff last year, and he picked up right where he left off Saturday,” Ralph writes. “Nevada’s lone first-half success came on a drive where the offense deliberately ran opposite of Dennis-Sutton.
“Being left off of defensive player of the year watch lists clearly didn’t sit well with the confident Dennis-Sutton. He’s looking to prove some people wrong.”
For Blue-White Illustrated, Sean Fitz focused his game balls column on Nittany Lions kicker Ryan Barker, who was a perfect four-for-four on Saturday.
“Penn State needs to finish with touchdowns, especially against Nevada, but it is always good to get live reps in the stadium in front of a pretty full Beaver Stadium. Barker missed part of camp with a tweak, but looked good on Saturday when called upon,” Fitz writes. “True freshman Matthew Parker took over for Barker when the game got out of hand in the fourth quarter, seeing his first career action.”
Last but not least, CBS Sports’ Will Backus offered a national perspective on the game.
“Penn State’s defense was the real standout, though,” Backus writes. “The Nittany Lions controlled the line of scrimmage while holding Nevada to just 78 yards rushing as a team. The Wolf Pack had 2.5 yards per carry and 55 of those yards of the ground came courtesy of quarterback Chubba Purdy, who was an effective scrambler when plays broke down.”
Category: General Sports
