The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 34-0 win over FIU

Penn State was underwhelming in a 34-0 win over FIU Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, struggling to score early before pulling away late.

Let’s get right into the good, the bad and the ugly from the Nittany Lions’ lackluster performance.

Good

Kaytron Allen: No better place to start than with the best offensive player on the team through two games. The Nittany Lions have been inconsistent (to put it kindly) at times this season, but that’s not been true of Allen. He was a force for the group Saturday, consistently finding openings and then creating extra yards once defenders made contact. Even when plays weren’t blocked well, he was rumbling his way to extra yards. And when things were going well, he broke off massive gains — like on his 67-yard touchdown run when he got to the edge of the field, before cutting back and rumbling in for a touchdown.

Allen is a good pass protector and pass catcher, too, even if he didn’t put those skills on display against FIU. His all-around play has made him the productive offensive player the team has right now and one of very few bright spots on that side of the ball.

Devonte Ross: I said very few bright spots, mostly because Ross has looked good, too. The Nittany Lion wasn’t expected to debut until the Oregon game due to “bumps and bruises,” as head coach James Franklin put it, but instead seems to be at full go already. That’s a massive positive for the unit because it’s not easy to jump from playing at Troy, where Ross transferred in from, to a program like Penn State — and it’s only made harder if the first matchup is with the Ducks. Instead, he was able to get his feet wet last week and have a larger role against FIU, hauling in all three of his targets for 61 yards and a touchdown — which was a one-handed leaping grab that drew a pass interference penalty.

Ross’ ability to stretch the field and make defenders miss when he has the ball in his hands makes him one of the best weapons the team has, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s PSU’s leading receiver by the time the year ends.

PSU’s pass rush: Penn State only had two sacks, but that doesn’t tell the full story of how its pass rush performed. The Nittany Lions were living in the backfield, even if they struggled to bring down FIU QB Keyone Jenkins, who showed off his scrambling ability. Still, he felt pressure from the group all game, with everyone contributing in that regard. There was even a play in the first quarter where it looked like Zuriah Fisher had a sack, but he was accidentally tackled by Dani Dennis-Sutton, who was also in position to make a play.

This is going to be a strong pass rush all season, with the upside to get even better thanks to Chaz Coleman’s continued growth. The true freshman had a strip-sack that he nearly ran back for a touchdown in the game, and should be a threat off the edge the rest of the way.

Zakee Wheatley: The Nittany Lions have been excellent at building depth on their defense in recent years, but it was abundantly clear heading into the season that Wheatley was far and away the best safety on the roster. That’s partially because of how good he is and partially because of how little experience the rest of the group has. The defense was going to need him to put out some fires and clean up some messes on the back end if mistakes were made and so far he’s done that and then some. He won’t get quite the same level of recognition as the pass rushers because he’s not living in the backfield or making game-changing players (yet) but what Wheatley has done has been very impressive.

He was always a quality starter for Penn State, but I’ve seen a jump in his level of play this season. The kind of jump guys make when they go from being good to being one of the best in the country at their position.

Bad

Drew Allar: This was one of the worst starts I’ve seen from Allar in a long time. He made a few good throws but for the most part he was a large part of the reason the offense struggled so much Saturday afternoon. The senior quarterback looked hesitant at times, waiting to make decisions until it was too late. And other times he looked uncomfortable, even when there was no pressure. The result was a mix of bad decisions and bad throws that stalled out almost an entire half of football. I wouldn’t expect him to be perfect, even against an opponent like FIU, but Allar couldn’t hit the simple throws to get into a rhythm against the Panthers. He had open receivers but would instead try more difficult (and lower-reward) throws that he failed to complete. He didn’t lead receivers properly, limiting their ability to make plays after the catch. He said as much after the game that it wasn’t good enough.

This is most likely a blip on the radar for Allar, but these are not the types of games you want to see out of a third-year starter in a season that is supposed to end with a national title.

Nick Singleton’s vision: This isn’t the first time Singleton’s indecisiveness has popped up, but it was one of the most glaring issues for him Saturday. The senior running back is a power-speed anomaly, possessing the type of traits most coaches dream of having in a running back. And when things are good he looks like one of the best backs in the country. But when they aren’t, he leaves plenty of yards out there and can put the offense behind schedule. There were a few instances like that against FIU, but none were more glaring than the one late in the second quarter.

With 2:38 to go in the half on third-and-6, Singleton took a handoff on an outside run, with two clear excellent options — cut inside and get up the field for a potential first down or continue to string it out and get the edge for a big gain. Instead he ran into his blockers, and the defense for a three-yard gain to bring up fourth down. Those kind of plays can’t happen in year four for a back as good as Singleton.

Ugly

Finishing drives early: Some of this is on Allar, some is on Singleton and some is on the offensive line. The Nittany Lions could not close out their drives in the first half and kept stalling out after moving the ball relatively well to get into FIU territory. Allar was missing those throws, Singleton was missing open holes and the line wasn’t creating enough space for the team to finish with any level of ease. And instead the No. 2 team in the country went into the half up 10-0 on a team it was favored to beat by over 40 points. Yes, eventually the Nittany Lions got going.

But I have a hard time imagining that type of start ending with a positive result against the likes of Oregon and Ohio State. Especially considering the Ducks just put up 69 points on Oklahoma State and will travel to Happy Valley in just three weeks.

This story was originally published September 7, 2025 at 9:15 AM.

Jon Sauber

Centre Daily Times

(814) 231-6461

Jon Sauber covers Penn State football and men’s basketball for the Centre Daily Times. He earned his B.A. in digital and print journalism from Penn State and his M.A. in sports journalism from IUPUI. His previous stops include jobs at The Indianapolis Star, the NCAA, and Rivals.