Here are 5 takeaways from Penn State football’s 30-0 victory over Maryland
Very quickly on Saturday, No. 14 Penn State crushed not only Maryland’s hopes and dreams of winning, but also its scoring opportunities.
Penn State defeated the 6-4 team 30-0, the second shutout of Maryland in four seasons. The Nittany Lions caused the Terrapins to lose 56 yards behind the line of scrimmage and 49 yards were lost on seven sacks. Penn State nullified Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who went 11-for-22 (50%) for 74 passing yards. Maryland had a total of 37 carries for 60 rushing yards and 1.6 yards per carry.
Here are five takeaways from the shutout victory in Beaver Stadium.
Penn State dominates in trenches
The Nittany Lions controlled the pulse of the game with outstanding play from both sides of the football up front. Penn State center Juice Scruggs manned the middle to completely push Maryland nose tackle Ami Finau on multiple carries from Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, namely in Singleton’s 45-yard and 25-yard touchdown rushes in the first and second quarter.
Singleton finished with 11 carries for 122 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the day. Allen had 16 carries for 73 rushing yards.
As for the other side of the ball, PJ Mustipher, Dvon Ellies, Coziah Izzard, Hakeem Beamon and Zane Durant all controlled the middle of the running game. Penn State had seven sacks and nine tackles for loss. A win in the trenches is a victory added to the record.
Clifford’s broken records offers nice transition to Allar
Looking at quarterback Sean Clifford’s 12-for-23 (52%), 139-yard and one-touchdown pass day, it’s nothing to write about. What made Saturday notable was that Clifford broke the Penn State passing yards record to pass his predecessor Trace McSorley and went over the 10,000-yard mark on passes with a 33-yard pass to tight end Theo Johnson with 12:01 left in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, freshman quarterback Drew Allar waited and waited, until Clifford left the field with 8:15 left in the third quarter and a 30-0 Penn State lead. It could’ve easily been Allar’s second half to start, he would’ve had a 27-0 lead at halftime to work off of. While Allar didn’t play much, making six passes and completing just three of them, it felt like a proverbial passing of the torch ...
Until Christian Veilleux entered the game.
Shutout Saturday for Penn State’s defense
Penn State played great defense in Saturday’s shutout win. The Nittany Lions allowed just 134 total yards with 74 passing yards and 60 rushing yards. They won the possession battle over the Terrapins, beat them in the penalty battle, scored twice in the red zone — going 2-for-2 and average play yardage. Penn State rushed 43 times for 249 yards, popping off 5.8 yards per rush and two rushing touchdowns by Singleton.
Stepping up through injuries
Penn State had a number of key starters out, including offensive linemen Olu Fashanu, Landon Tengwall and Caedan Wallace, along with cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and linebacker Curtis Jacobs. Freshman Abdul Carter stood in for Jacobs, Johnny Dixon replaced Porter Jr., Hunter Nourzad was in for Tengwall, Drew Shelton started at left tackle for Fashanu and Bryce Effner was at right tackle for Wallace.
Carter had seven tackles (three solo), one tackle for loss, one sack, a pass breakup, two quarterback hits and a forced fumble. Davis had a pass breakup and a tackle. Shelton, Nourzad and Effner were road graders along with Scruggs in the running game. They all played like starters and stepped up.
The Nittany Lions are well on their way to a New Year’s Six Bowl
Maryland was thought to be the last team in Penn State’s way to possibly stop it from making it to a New Year’s Six Bowl and a 10-2 record. The Terrapins looked like a shriveled version of their early-season iteration that competed well against Michigan on Sept. 24 in a 34-27 loss.
Rutgers and Michigan State are the next two teams on Penn State’s schedule and they played each other on Saturday. The Spartans won 27-21 and are now at 5-5 on the year. Rutgers dropped to 4-6. Neither team is as good as Maryland and neither team particularly has the speed, power or experience that Penn State has. The Nittany Lions should win — with a big emphasis on should.
Which means they could be playing in the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl or Rose Bowl come season’s end. That’s a big success for a team that struggled last season in a 7-6 finish and missed playing in a bowl game during a 4-5 season.
This story was originally published November 12, 2022 at 7:40 PM.
