No. 6 Penn State rolling as it heads to Northwestern, eyeing more big plays

College Football

Published Sep. 28, 2023 1:12 p.m. ET

It’s not easy to find flaws with No. 6 Penn State.

The Nittany Lions (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) come into Saturday’s game at Northwestern with the nation’s stingiest defense and an 11-game streak of scoring at least 30 points.

They’ve outscored their opponents by a combined 127 points. They held Iowa to 76 yards in a 31-0 romp last week.

Coach James Franklin will take all that. He’d like to see a few more explosive plays on offense, too.

“I’m always looking for balance,” Franklin said. “We’re always looking for balance, and right now I think we have shown the ability to run to win, and we’ve shown the ability to pass to win. I think we need to be able to show that we can grind it out to win, which we have, but I also think we need to show that we can be explosive to win, as well.

“We’ve done that at times but probably not as much as we’ve grinded it out, but I would also say that also plays a little bit to how people were playing us.”

Iowa played soft on the perimeter, he said, and Illinois had a safety playing 25 yards deep. Both games were lopsided victories for Penn State, so he’s not complaining. But he did have to remind his players to continue to grind out long possessions.

The Nittany Lions have 11 touchdown drives of at least four minutes, not to mention a 17-play possession that ended in a field goal and ate up nearly 7 1/2 minutes.

The opportunities for big gains could be there against Northwestern (2-2, 1-1), which rallied to beat Minnesota 37-34 in overtime last week. The Wildcats have won two of three after losing 12 in a row.

On The Run

Led by one of the nation’s best tandems in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton, Penn State ranks second in the Big Ten in rushing at 210 yards per game. And when it comes to stopping the run, Northwestern is at the bottom of the league. The Wildcats are giving up 184.5 yards per game, after getting torched by Darius Taylor for 198 last week.

Top Wins

Northwestern hasn’t beaten a team ranked sixth or higher since knocking off No. 6 Michigan on Oct. 5, 1996. The Wildcats have lost three straight against top 10 opponents since beating No. 10 Wisconsin at home in 2020.

Deep Thought

Franklin mentioned another reason why the Nittany Lions aren’t getting too many explosive plays — quarterback Drew Allar. And he meant it as a compliment, not a criticism.

“He’s not holding on to the ball waiting for a route to come open; he’s working through his progression, and he’s taking a check-down, so that reduces sacks,” Franklin said. “That keeps us on schedule. That increases completion percentage, and those things equate to wins.”

Allar is tied for the Big Ten lead with eight touchdown passes and ranks second with a 67.2 completion percentage. He has completed 84 of 125 passes for 903 yards without an interception.

Home Streak

Northwestern is 2-0 at home this season with wins over UTEP and Minnesota. Though that might not seem all that impressive, the Wildcats will take it. After all, they had dropped eight in a row at Ryan Field.

Delivering

Northwestern quarterback Ben Bryant had a bounce-back game last week after struggling through the first three. The Cincinnati transfer threw for 396 yards and four touchdowns, helping the Wildcats rally from 21 down. He also got a big assist from Bryce Kirtz, who set career highs with 10 catches for 215 yards and his first two touchdowns.

“Ben started to really put on full display some of the things that we see out of him in practice every day and had seen throughout fall camp,” interim coach David Braun said. “I think you see a group and a unit that is starting to find a rhythm and jelling.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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