PSU dominates Ohio University in home opener

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 10, 2022

Photo courtesy of Bobbie Homan
STATE COLLEGE – The Penn State Nittany Lions came to play and took care of business in front of over 107,000 screaming Nittany Lion fans as they downed the Ohio Wildcats by the final score of 46-10 in their home opener.
“It could have been better, I didn’t love the second quarter, offensively I thought we stalled out a few times, I thought we could have been better on third downs,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “But! That’s being critical, besides that, obviously there’s a lot of good things to build on from. For the most part I was pretty pleased.”
Penn State didn’t take long to get the ball rolling as during the opening drive, the Nittany Lions muscled their way down the field ending on a quarterback sneak by Sean Clifford.
One of the big topics coming into the game for Penn State was the running game and looking for the big plays on the ground. And did they ever get one as during their second possession, Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton busted loose and ran down for 70 yards for a touchdown. At that point in the game, the Nittany Lions had already had more rushing yards in this game 100 then they did for the game against Purdue which was 98.
That wasn’t the only big run that Singleton provided for the Penn State offense as later on in the third quarter where Singleton scored his second rushing touchdown going for 44 yards. Singleton had 10 carries in the game for a total of 179 yards. Overall Penn State had 234 yards on the ground.
Clifford not only had a rushing touchdown, but a passing touchdown as well as with 15 second remaining in the opening half, Clifford found Mitchell Tinsley in the endzone. Clifford went 19-for-27 for a total of 213 yards.
Clifford wasn’t the only quarterback for Penn State that gotten some playing time. Drew Allar came into the game and threw a pair of touchdown passes. Allar was 6-for-8 for 88 yards.
“I think the biggest thing that jumps out to everybody is he’s just super poised in there,” Franklin said of Allar. “For a young kid, the game seems slow to him already. I think he’s doing a really good job from a preparation stand point. It also helps that he is 6’5 242 pounds.”
Penn State also showed great signs for the future of the program out of the 572 totals, 400 of those yards as well as five touchdowns in the game were from the freshman group.
“Those guys, their roles will continue to grow and gain confidence as the season will go on and we’re going to need them,” Franklin said of the freshman group. “That will help us moving forward.”
The Nittany Lions will be getting back to work setting up for their battle next week as they will go on the road to duke it out with the Auburn Tigers next Saturday at 3:30. Let’s Go PSU!