Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from comfortable win over Kent State
By Shane Lunnen
Penn State football has now won two straight games comfortably after Appalachian State took the Nittany Lions to overtime in Week 1.
It was a little shaky to start, but Penn State cruised to victory Saturday over Kent State, 63-10. The Lions have concluded their non conference season and will enter Big Ten play Friday night at Illinois.
In the first half, Kent State kept it close for a bit. However once Penn State cleaned up some areas, they started rolling. Through three games, the Lions are not lacking in the points department. They are averaging 53 points per game.
The Big Ten season will bring new challenges for the Lions. But before we get to the conference schedule, what did we learn about Penn State from today’s victory? Here are three observations from the contest.
3. Mistakes still are a problem for the Lions
Penn State started off the game against Kent State with more mistakes. They pulled away to win comfortably, but cleaning up the mistakes should be an emphasis moving forward.
Trace McSorley threw a long bomb on the second play of the game and it was caught by KJ Hamler for a touchdown, but a hold called it back. Luckily for the Lions they would be aided by a personal foul by Kent State later in the drive to keep it going and would get the touchdown back.
The Penn State defense also did not seem like it was ready for Kent State’s up tempo offense. The Golden Flashes would march on an eleven play 75-yard drive of their own ending on a beautifully caught touchdown by wide receiver Mike Carrigan.
On the ensuing kickoff, Kent State recovered an onside kick. It was the second onsides kick Penn State has failed to recover in the first three weeks, the other coming against Appalachian State.
The Lions also had several penalties negating touchdowns, missed tackles, and dropped balls that were key to keeping Kent State in the game for most of the first half. These mistakes are easy to clean up. With Big Ten play looming on a short week and a game on Friday at Illinois, Penn State must get the issues corrected before they get to the meat of their conference schedule.