STATE COLLEGE — Another prohibitive underdog hindered Penn State’s ability to finish drives Saturday before the second-ranked Nittany Lions subdued FIU, 34-0, at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State had the football inside the Panthers’ territory on its first nine possessions and reached the end zone just twice on passes from Drew Allar to Khalil Dinkins and Devonte Ross.
The Lions completed their scoring on Kaytron Allen’s 67-yard touchdown burst with 3:29 to go and Nick Singleton’s 5-yard run with 1:19 left.
Allen finished with a career-high 144 yards on 16 carries and Singleton finished with 76 yards on 13 rushes.
Penn State mostly relied on a dominant defense for the second straight week and posted their first shutout since a 56-0 rout of Kent State last year.
Defensive tackle Alonzo Ford Jr. made the first interception of his career, linebackers Tony Rojas and Amare Campbell combined for 19 tackles and end Dani Dennis-Sutton spent much of the afternoon in the backfield.
The Lions, though, struggled to put away the Panthers, who were 41.5-point underdogs.
Not until Allar’s 42-yard TD pass to Ross that made it 20-0 in the third quarter did the home crowd exhale after fans booed Allar and the offense in the first half. They went just 3-for-12 on third down.
Penn State had the ball on all six of its possessions inside FIU territory in the first half, but couldn’t produce more than 10 points.
Allar’s fourth-down pass to Trebor Pena on the first series was broken up. After the Lions stopped the Panthers on fourth down at their 13, they drove 87 yards for their only touchdown of the half.
Singleton ran for 16 yards and then picked up 4 on fourth-and-1. Allen’s 20-yard burst and Allar’s 11-yard completion to Luke Reynolds set up Dinkins’ 9-yard TD catch.
FIU drove into Penn State territory again early in the second quarter. But Keyone Jenkins was pressured by Jaylen Harvey and threw a pass that was intercepted by Ford at the 25.
The Lions moved down the field again and had a first down at the Panthers’ 30 after a 12-yard pass to Kyron Hudson. But Allen was stopped short on fourth-and-2 at the 21.
Penn State took over at the FIU 45 after Dominic DeLuca’s third blocked punt of his career. The Lions stalled, though, when Allar’s swing pass to Singleton was way off target on third down.
Ross returned a punt 17 yards to give the Penn State offense the ball at the FIU 37. Allar, though, was sacked on third down. Ryan Barker kicked a 41-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 50 seconds left in the half.
The Lions defense gave the offense another chance by forcing another punt. Without a timeout, Allar completed a 14-yard pass to Reynolds at the FIU 36. After an incompletion, Barker tried a 53-yard field goal that was blocked on the final play of the half.
Penn State gained 190 yards in the half, but failed to finish drives.
Source: Berkshire mont