The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 52-6 win over Villanova
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Linebackers Campbell and Rojas anchored the defense with 12 tackles and 3 sacks.
- Kaytron Allen outpaced Singleton with better vision, stronger runs and efficiency.
- Red zone inefficiency and Allar's inconsistency raise concerns before Oregon clash.
Penn State blew out Villanova 52-6 in Beaver Stadium Saturday to move to 3-0, but still managed to have an unconvincing offensive performance in the process.
Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly in the team’s final non-conference game of the regular season.
Good
Linebacker play: I’d be the first one to say that linebacker play doesn’t matter nearly as much as it used to with how offenses play, but that doesn’t mean the best at the position can’t be difference makers. And on Saturday, that’s what Amare Campbell and Tony Rojas were. The reason for the devaluation of the position is largely because those players are asked to play in space and make plays in the passing game — an area where Rojas and Campbell excel.
Both are just as capable of rushing the passer as they are at dropping into space, which is what they showed against the Wildcats. The duo combined for 12 total tackles, five tackles for loss and three sacks in the game while making things difficult for Villanova’s run-pass option plays with their ability to make reads and cover space.
Kaytron Allen: I can’t remember a time when I felt there was this big of a disparity between how Penn State’s top two running backs have been playing over the last four years than right now. Allen is clearly better than Nick Singleton at this moment (more on him later). He’s seeing the field better, making more decisive cuts and creating extra yardage with his ability to run through tackles. It helps, too, that he’s a very good pass protector and a good receiver out of the backfield. Allen had more yards than Singleton on half as many carries and passed the eye test with flying colors. Penn State head coach James Franklin has mentioned Allen having a full offseason for the first time, and it’s shown with how he’s played through three games.
Luke Reynolds: It’s hard to envision the Penn State offense without an elite tight end at this point because of how well the program has developed them under Franklin. And it looks like Reynolds is going to be the next one. Yes, Khalil Dinkins is the team’s starter (and a very good one) but it’s clear that Reynolds has the playmaking chops as a pass catcher that could make him one of the best in the country at the position. He still needs to get stronger and improve as a blocker, which shouldn’t be too difficult considering he’s still a true sophomore, but once he does he should take that starting job and never let go. He caught four of his five targets for 73 yards, but most importantly showed the separation ability and athleticism that you just can’t teach.
Jim Knowles: There hasn’t been a whole lot of talk about the defense through three weeks, largely because Knowles has been excellent in his short time as the team’s defensive coordinator. The group is playing as one — with every movement being intentional and working in concert with the rest of the defense. There were multiple instances where a defensive back blitzed and the quarterback threw to the area he was vacating (the correct decision, usually) only for a different defender to step up and replace the blitzer and break up the pass. That’s both good design by Knowles and good execution by a defense that will face a massive test when it takes on Oregon — a test I firmly believe it will pass.
Bad
Drew Allar: Here we are again. For the second week in a row, Allar has underwhelmed as the team’s starting quarterback, causing plenty of commotion about what it means for the team moving forward. First and foremost (because everyone seems to be talking about it), no, I do not think this team would be better had Beau Pribula not transferred to Missouri. That being said, Allar needs to play better for this team to reach its ceiling. It’s concerning that he’s missing some of the easy throws that offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is giving him, and he’s even bypassing some of them in favor of contested catch situations. There is absolutely a need for him to take more opportunities and trust his receivers to win for him at the catch point, but not when other players are wide open — like when Kyron Hudson was, but Allar threw what ended up being an incomplete pass to Dinkins instead. Truth be told, though, nobody will care how he played against FIU and Villanova, as long as he plays better against the Ducks in two weeks.
Nick Singleton: And again. Singleton was slightly improved from last week, but his performance still wasn’t good. He had a big-time workload with 20 carries (eight of which came on the first drive) but still only finished with 84 yards. Sure, that’s a fine performance, but we’re talking about a star running back against an FCS defense. The good news is that Singleton saw the field a bit better and didn’t overthink the need to cut back at every opportunity, but he still left plenty out there. And right now, Allen is playing on another level compared to him. I’d still fully anticipate the same timeshare between these two that there usually is, with a near 50-50 split, but Singleton needs to do more damage when he has the chance. Most importantly, he needs to break some of the big runs he’s capable of, especially in the big games. Do that, and people will forget about the potential yards left on the table during non-conference play.
Ugly
How the non-conference games went for the offense: The Singleton and Allar issues point to the broader problem — this offense can’t seem to finish drives. Yes, a lot of that is on the quarterback, but the issues get exacerbated when the team gets close to the red zone. The field begins to shrink, and suddenly the wide open throws get a little bit tighter and the windows get smaller. There’s a chance some of this is happenstance, too. It’s only three games and it’s a small sample of plays deep in opponent territory that they’ve failed to produce on. There’s a chance that things swing back in their favor as the sample gets larger. But for now, the issues remain, and the ability for the offense to finish drives is going to be a problem. Because settling for field goals doesn’t matter against Villanova, but it can be enough to lose games against Oregon and Ohio State. And we all know that is how this team will be judged — by how it plays in its biggest games.
