Penn State Football: QB Report Post Kent State 2018
The receiving corp has not played up to par, but Trace McSorley got it done again. Regardless, Penn State football leaves with a 3-0 start after Saturday.
Maybe it’s going to take a Trace McSorley, Heisman-worthy performance every week for Penn State football to be successful. The passing game hasn’t found its stride, as drops again plagued the offense in a 63-10 Penn State win over Kent State. Yet again, the senior QB bailed the offense out with an outstanding performance.
It started off fast, McSorley hit DeAndre Thompkins for a 40-yard score on a post pattern. He then rushed for a couple of scores, as the offense found the ground attack early. Unfortunately, the struggles returned for Penn State’s air attack. It couldn’t complete easy passes for the remainder of the half. Worse than that, a Miles Sanders’ drop turned into a late interception that would be costly against Big Ten opponents.
Luckily for the Nittany Lions, the offense got a second chance before half. McSorley made it a hat trick, rushing for his third score off a 13-yard scamper right up the middle.
In the second half, the offense clicked back to normal. McSorley closed out the day perfectly, hitting 4-of-4 passes and connecting for another touchdown pass off a deep post, this one from 41 yards out to Brandon Polk. The numbers this season are staggering so far. Ignore the completion percentage, because his receivers haven’t helped him a whole lot.
With that said, his ability to create off scrambles and designed runs keeps him in the Heisman hunt through three games. Some final notes, McSorley went over 1,000 yards rushing for his career in the win and over 9,000 total yards of offense. Look for next week to surpass 8,000 yards passing.
McSorley SEASON STATS: 45-of-87, 603 yards, five touchdowns, one interception; 143 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns; 746 total yards, 11 total touchdowns
McSorley CAREER STATS: 25-5 career record, 7,973 passing yards, 60.9 completion percentage, 64 touchdowns, 19 interceptions; 1,042 rushing yards, 24 rushing touchdowns; 9,015 total yards, 88 total touchdowns
Next. Penn State Football: Keys to the Game against Kent State 2018. dark
After such a star-studded effort from McSorley, Sean Clifford came in for mop-up duty and hit 3-of-3 passes for 141 yards and a 95-yard TD to Daniel George. Clifford has yet to throw an incompletion in his career and has two touchdown passes. It’s a good time to be a Penn State fan and anyone looking toward the future. It’s blindingly bright.