Takeaways: Penn State football grinds out UCLA win despite of slow start

Penn State football has had a tendency to start games a little slow this season. The Nittany Lions have found themselves in holes early both from letting opposing offenses score on their opening possessions and the Nittany Lion offense struggling to put points on the board on their first few drives. We saw this again against UCLA.

Against West Virginia, it took until the 3^rd drive before Drew Allar and the offense got things going with the first score coming at the 1:42 mark of the 1^st quarter. In the Bowling Green game, the offense scored points on 4 of their first 5 drives but it was the defense who gave up scores on 4 of the Falcons’ 5 drives in the half that resulted in Penn State trailing at the break. Against Illinois, the defense allowed an opening 75-yard TD drive and while the offense answered right away, there were no more points until halfway through the 3^rd quarter.

On Saturday against UCLA, we saw another slow start from the offense despite the defense playing relatively well. It took until the 3^rd drive of the game before a touchdown was scored. A late two-minute drive before half gave the Nittany Lions a comfortable lead heading into the half but it still was a little sloppy against a team who hadn’t scored a touchdown in the previous 6 quarters.

This certainly is more nitpicking for a team that is 5-0 and has controlled 4 of those victories from start to finish. But with the schedule starting to ramp up with a trip to USC and Wisconsin and a home contest against Ohio State in the next 3 games, it is something that James Franklin will want to improve moving forward.

Defensive Line continues to produce

The Penn State football defensive line has improved massively in the past two weeks after a slow start to the season. Both Dani Dennis-Sutton and Abdul Carter have caused havoc for both Illinois and UCLA, something that was expected heading into the season. The pressure from the star defensive ends and even the interior defensive line has been massive in run defense and forcing quarterbacks to make quick decisions.

This is something that will need to progress if Penn State hopes to knock off better offenses that are on the future schedule. It will start this week against USC where Lincoln Riley and quarterback Miller Moss have shown they can be explosive and take advantage of secondaries if given the time. It will most likely be the biggest test of the season for both Dennis-Sutton and Carter and the Penn State defense as a whole.

Grind it out offense

The offensive performance was certainly nothing to get super excited about on Saturday. Penn State started slow with punts on their first two drives but ultimately cruised to a rather easy 27-11 victory. Kaytron Allen took almost all the carries finishing with 21 for 78 yards and a touchdown.

Despite the slow start, it was an easy win for Penn State against UCLA and that should be counted as a success considering the emotional victory over a ranked Illinois team the week prior and the big matchup in Los Angeles against USC this upcoming Saturday. James Franklin’s team may not have won by as many scores as many anticipated, but anyone who watched the game could see just how dominant they were on both sides of the ball.

Liam Clifford emerges as another offensive option

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Penn State wide receiver room has been deeper than many anticipated coming into the season. It seems that through the first 5 games, multiple receivers have had their moments to shine. Harrison Wallace III was big against West Virginia and currently has 14 catches for 230 yards and two touchdowns on the season. Tight end Tyler Warren has been the best player in the entire offense and has 23 receptions for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns.

In recent games Omari Evans has 10 catches for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns and Ohio State transfer Julian Flemming has picked up steam with 7 catches for 99 yards. However, nobody has a better day on Saturday than Liam Clifford who caught the ball 3 times for 103 yards and now has 8 catches for 180 on the season.

Clifford was able to pick up two key conversions for Drew Allar over the middle and also take advantage of a penalty on UCLA , grabbing a deep shot for a 57 yard gain in the second half. If Clifford is a 4^th option in addition to Warren, Wallace, and Evans, than this passing game may be even more dangerous than we initially thought.

Finally a kicker?

The kicker struggles through the first 4 games have caused many Penn State football fans to worry. Starter Sander Sahaydak started the year 2 for 5 on field goals including 1 of 4 from 40+, two of which came against Illinois keeping Bret Bielema’s squad in the game deep into the 4^th quarter.

On Saturday we saw freshman kicker Ryan Barker get started and he seemed to be competent in the limited kicks we saw. Barker hit a long of 40 yards which was a kick that Sahaydak missed twice against Illinois. Having a kicker who can at least make kicks from 45 and in gives Penn State at least some semblance of comfortability heading into the rest of conference play and is reassuring that the Nittany Lions can at least get some points on successful drives.

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