Nittany Lions take on Aztecs Saturday
UNIVERSITY PARK – Riding a two-game winning streak, Penn State will continue its string of five consecutive home games on Saturday when the Lions face San Diego State.
The Nittany Lions (2-1, 1-0) and Aztecs (1-2, 0-0) will meet for the first time on the gridiron when the two squads line up for a 3:30 p.m. kick inside Beaver Stadium. The game will air live on BTN.
Penn State notched its second win in as many weeks with a dominant 28-3 triumph against Rutgers in the Big Ten opener. Offense, defense and special teams all played paramount roles in the conference-opening victory.
“I’m actually really pleased with how we’re playing as a team right now,” said head coach James Franklin. “I thought that game on Saturday was probably the most complete football game we’ve played since we’ve been here. I thought we played great team football at this point where we’re at as a program.”
A 330-yard rushing night highlighted Penn State’s Big Ten opener. True freshman Saquon Barkley (195 yards) and junior Akeel Lynch (120 yards) combined for three touchdowns against the Scarlet Knights. Penn State enters this week having rushed for 200 or more yards in back-to-back games for the first time since 2009.
On defense, Penn State limited Rutgers to just 43 yards on the ground and held the Scarlet Knights out of the end zone. For the season, the Nittany Lions have allowed just seven points in the first half of games. The three points scored by Rutgers marked the lowest total by a Big Ten opponent since 2011.
Penn State’s special teams play was also superb in the primetime tilt against Rutgers. The Lions forced the Knights into an averaging starting spot of their own 18-yard line. Punter Chris Gulla had five kicks downed inside the 20, and the Nittany Lions again dazzled in the return game with Nick Scott tallying a kickoff return of more than 30 yards for the second-straight week.
San Diego State (1-2) enters the week looking to snap a two-game skid following an overtime setback to South Alabama at home. The Aztecs opened the season with a 37-3 victory over San Diego before dropping a 35-7 decision at California. San Diego State has averaged 23.7 points per game during the first three weeks.
The Aztecs will become the 155th different opponent Penn State has played in its 129-year history on the gridiron. The Nittany Lions have played just four games against the current members of the Mountain West Conference. The most recent meeting against a Mountain West foe came in 1977 when the Lions played Utah State.
The Second Annual Unrivaled Band Jam will take place on Saturday. High school bands will participate in the pre-game performance with the Penn State Blue Band. More than 1,000 total band members are anticipated to perform. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at noon, and the event begins at 1:15 p.m. inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
“The band does an awesome job for us in the stadium,” Franklin said. “Tuesday nights they practice on our turf, and I love it. They’re out there jamming on Tuesday nights in the stadium. What they do, obviously, the environment that they bring is really, really special. So we’re indebted to the commitment that our band makes to our program and the University as a whole.”
Welcome to the gameday preview for week four – Penn State vs. San Diego State.
Pregame Reading:
What to Watch For – Penn State
1. Thanks to physical play from the offensive line, the Nittany Lions are beginning to find an identity with a potent one-two punch of running backs in the backfield. Lynch and Barkley have combined for 555 yards and five touchdowns on the ground this season. The duo is averaging 7.6 yards per carry. Additionally, true freshman Brandon Polk and redshirt freshman DeAndre Thompkins bring a speed component to the ground attack and have tallied 102 yards and scored twice. Continued effectiveness on the ground will create more opportunities for Christian Hackenberg and the receiving corps down field as the season progresses. Hackenberg was not sacked during the past two games.
2. The play of the Nittany Lion defensive line speaks for itself. The unit has been nothing short of dominant up front, but don’t overlook the play of Penn State’s youthful linebacker corps. The linebacker group welcomed the return of Brandon Bell last week, who had nine stops in the victory. Sophomore Jason Cabinda has been stout in his first action at middle linebacker during the last two weeks, as well. Cabinda has made 19 tackles this season and broken up three passes. Redshirt freshman Troy Reeder played for the first time against Temple and started against Buffalo. He hasn’t looked back since. Reeder made eight tackles last week and has 17 tackles on the season.
3. Coach Franklin called last week’s game against Rutgers the best performance by the special teams unit since the staff arrived on campus. The Nittany Lions have made big gains on special teams during the first three weeks of the season. In addition to more consistency in the kicking game, the Lions have been excellent in coverage and explosive on returns.
“Special teams, I think we’re playing really fast and confident on special teams right now,” said Franklin. “If you had to say what unit has improved the most on our team, I’d say it’s special teams. So that’s through scheme, that’s through commitment and effort, and that’s through just more depth that we have.”
What to Watch For – San Diego State
1. The Aztecs return eight starters from a 2014 defense that finished the season ranked No. 16 in the nation in total defense. San Diego State is one of just six teams nationally with two or more interception returns for touchdown during the first three weeks of 2015. Linebacker Calvin Munson has both pick-six plays on the season. Coach Franklin noted San Diego State’s unique defensive scheme earlier in the week.
“If anybody’s had a chance to watch San Diego State already, they play what I would call a chaos defense,” said Franklin. “Anybody ever see those defenses where they don’t even lineup, they just kind of walk around and do all those things. They blitz from every angle possible.”
2. Junior running back Donnel Pumphrey posted his first 100-yard rushing performance of the season last week. A preseason watch list member for both the Maxwell and Doak Walker Awards, Pumphrey has 2,868 career rushing yards. He leads the team in both rushing (249 yards) and receptions heading into Saturday’s game. An 1,800-yard rusher in 2014 as a sophomore, Pumphrey is averaging more than six yards per carry in his career.
3. The San Diego State special teams units are ranked among the nation’s top tier in a number of statistical categories. The Aztecs are balanced across the board with the kickoff return unit ranked 11th (29.10 ypr), punt return group ranked 28th (15.29 ypr), ranked 31st in net punting (40.65 yds) and tied for the highest field goal percentage (83.3) in the nation (among schools with at least six attempts).
The Final Word:
Visiting teams from the West Coast have been few and far between inside Beaver Stadium in the past four decades. Saturday’s game will mark only the fourth game between Penn State and a team in the Pacific Time Zone since the 1976 season. Since Beaver Stadium opened, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA and USC are the only teams from the West Coast that have played inside Beaver Stadium, prior to San Diego State joining that list. The Aztecs will be 2,230 miles from home when they take the field on Saturday, which is the second longest distance any continental team will travel in Division I FBS this season.
Penn State will be seeking its first 3-0 start at home since the 2010 season. The Nittany Lions have allowed a total of seven points in the first half this season and are yet to yield a point in the first quarter of a game. Penn State has outscored its opponents 41-7 in the first half this season. Big Ten Network’s live coverage of the Rutgers game begins at 3:30 p.m. with kickoff slated for 3:42 p.m. Kevin Kugler (Play-by-Play), Matt Millen (Analyst) and Lisa Byington (Sideline) will call the game.
