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Trace McSorley leads Penn State past Kent State

By Barry Leonard Jr.

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first half at Beaver Stadium on September 15, 2018 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 15: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Kent State Golden Flashes during the first half at Beaver Stadium on September 15, 2018 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Penn State enjoyed a big day from senior quarterback Trace McSorley. 

Trace McSorley added to his Heisman Trophy resume with a great performance against the Kent State Golden Flashes Saturday and helped lead the Nittany Lions to the 63-10 victory.

Penn State got the scoring started on the opening drive, needing just five plays to march 75 yards. The drive ended with a 40-yard touchdown pass from McSorley to DeAndre Thompkins. However, Kent State went right down the field on the ensuing possession and scored a touchdown of its own.

The Golden Flashes recovered an onside kick and began driving again. There was a sense of tension in Beaver Stadium at that point, as fans thought back to Week 1 whenever the Nittany Lions had to use overtime to defeat Appalachian State.

However, that wasn’t to be the case on this Saturday. McSorley rushed for two touchdowns to close out the first quarter to put the Nittany Lions ahead by a comfortable margin.

McSorley had a fantastic day on the ground, rushing for 54 yards and three touchdowns. He became Penn State’s leader in career rushing touchdowns for a quarterback.

He completed 11 of 22 passes for 229 yards and had two touchdowns and an interception.

Penn State’s passing game continued it’s struggles, and that should be a growing concern for the coaching staff. The Nittany Lions were again plagued by some drops, as well as penalties that called back three different touchdown passes.

DeAndre Thompkins led the way for Penn State’s receivers, hauling in four passes for 101 yards. Polk, and Thompkins both caught touchdown passes in the game.

The Nittany Lions rushed for over 200 yards as a team, led by 86 by Miles Sanders. Backup running back Mark Allen rushed 11 times for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Just like in last week’s blowout win over Pitt, backup quarterback Sean Clifford came in and showed how his arm strength. He launched a 95-yard touchdown pass to Daniel George in the fourth quarter.

On defense, things started slow, but Penn State quickly picked it up. Giving several young players some valuable playing time, the Nittany Lions held Kent State to 221 total yards. Cam Brown recorded seven total tackles to lead the team. Shareef Miller and freshman Jason Oweh each recorded two sacks apiece.

Overall, Penn State had seven sacks

Heading into the game, the Nittany Lions had struggled to stop the run, but in this one, they held the Golden Flashes to a total of 41 rushing yards.

Now complete with the non-conference portion of the schedule, Penn State heads to Illinois next Friday night to begin Big Ten play.

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