Three takeaways from Penn State football’s 27-11 win over UCLA after another slow start
Penn State once again bullied its way to a win, coasting to a 27-11 win over the UCLA Bruins on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium to move to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
Here are three takeaways from the Nittany Lions’ performance.
Penn State offense lacks explosiveness
The Nittany Lion offense has shown signs of being able to attack downfield and create big plays, but there were very few of those Saturday against the Bruins. Quarterback Drew Allar took very few shots deep early on and the offense made its money with long, time-consuming drives.
Usually that would lead to a few explosive runs, but the offense lacked that Saturday, too, largely because it was without star running back Nick Singleton. Singleton’s absence meant the team relied on Kaytron Allen at running back, and he’s far less likely to break big gains because he doesn’t have the same long speed as his teammate. That element of explosiveness should return once Singleton is back, but the lack of field-stretching plays is still concerning and something worth monitoring in the team’s biggest games.
Nittany Lions continue playing bully ball
Penn State’s offense lacked explosiveness, but it continued to methodically dominate UCLA — much like it did Illinois last week. The Nittany Lions didn’t average an extraordinary number of yards per carry (2.8) but they still managed to put together long drives and score three touchdowns in the game.
Without Singleton it was on Allen to carry the load at running back, and he helped the team control the ball. Allen finished the game with 78 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown, grinding out runs when the team needed them to continue drives. It helps that his offensive line dominated in the running game — for the most part — and was able to continually push the Bruins’ defensive line back on the snap.
Defense is rounding into form
The Penn State defense continues to bend but not break against clearly inferior teams and has made the slow start against Bowling Green look like a clear outlier. The group has been swarming the last two weeks, wreaking havoc in the backfield in passing situations and doing enough to limit big play opportunities that UCLA was unable to get going offensively.
The Bruins’ only score, when the game was in the balance, came after a long gain on a wheel route to running back T.J. Harden, when Harden ran free after PSU linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson got caught in traffic and was unable to catch up to him. Outside of that, this was a dominant performance by a Penn State defense that keeps proving it’s one of the best in the country.
This story was originally published October 5, 2024 at 3:15 PM.
