Three takeaways from Penn State football’s 49-10 win over Purdue in West Lafayette
Penn State went on the road and took care of business Saturday evening, dominating the Purdue Boilermakers from start to finish. The Nittany Lions earned the 49-10 win to move to 9-1 on the season.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game.
TE Warren continues steamrolling opponents
Purdue didn’t have much of a chance Saturday, but not many teams do when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren is playing like he did. The Mackey Award candidate found himself in the end zone multiple times again in West Lafayette, with one coming as a receiver and one coming on the ground. He finished with eight catches for 127 yards and three carries for 63 yards with the Boilermakers having no answer for him.
Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has found creative ways to get Warren the ball this season and that continued, too, with one of his touchdowns coming with him taking the snap from shotgun on third-and-1 and running for a 48-yard score. Yes, there are other elite tight ends around the country, but it’s hard to argue that there is a more valuable or better one than Warren.
DE Carter rounding into form
Abdul Carter’s move to defensive end from linebacker this season didn’t start out great, with some struggles with his gas tank early on, but any issues are gone now. Carter has played like one of the best defenders in the country of late and was doing the same against the Boilermakers. While his production Saturday wasn’t his best of the season, with a mere five tackles, two for loss and one QB hit — he was still dominant.
Carter was consistently held by Purdue offensive linemen, with most of them going uncalled, and was terrorizing the group all game. He and fellow DE Dani Dennis-Sutton were both consistently creating pressure on Purdue starting quarterback Hudson Card, with the Boilermakers signal caller even recoiling after throws at the potential threat of taking a hit. Carter’s progression this season should only prove to be more valuable as the Nittany Lions prepare for the postseason.
Nittany Lions properly manage workload
This was destined to be a blowout, and Penn State was going to have an opportunity to limit any possible damage for its best players. And the Nittany Lions took advantage by rotating their starters early and often as they built a big first half lead. Even Warren came out of the game fairly frequently as he lit up the Boilermakers, limiting most of his snaps to the ones where he was directly involved in the play.
On defense, PSU had its best players rotating throughout the game until the starters came out for good in the third quarter. And while it’s easy to get caught looking ahead to an opponent, the Nittany Lions did an excellent job of making sure they were going to be ready for the long haul by not taxing their best players Saturday evening while still ensuring they won comfortably.
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 6:58 PM.
