Penn State shines against border state foe Delaware, 63-7

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA – No. 7/7 Penn State football (2-0) defeated Delaware (1-1, 1-0) 63-7 Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions racked up a total of 541 yards and scored eight offensive touchdowns while holding the Blue Hens to only 140 total yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore quarterback Drew Allar continued his outstanding start to the season, completing 22-of-26 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown. Redshirt freshman quarterback Beau Pribula entered the game for Allar in the middle of the 3rd quarter and scored one rushing touchdown and one passing touchdown in the game, his first career throwing score.

Nicholas Singleton, and Kaytron Allen combined for 155 rushing yards and four touchdowns leading the Nittany Lion rushing attack that posted 315 in total on the afternoon. Through the air, Tyler Warren and Omari Evans hauled in touchdowns while KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the team with 74 receiving yards.

The Nittany Lions totaled an impressive 541 yards of offense (226 passing, 315 rushing) throughout the afternoon. Penn State scored on its first four drives of the afternoon, putting the pressure on the Blue Hens early and often.

Defensively, the Nittany Lions had an impressive performance, holding the Blue Hens to just seven points and 140 total yards of offense, 66 of which came on one rushing play. The defensive unit held Delaware to just five first downs in the game, tied for the fewest by an opposing offense since 2014.

Linebacker Dominic DeLuca recorded Penn State’s first defensive touchdown of the season on the first career interception of his career in the late third quarter. DeLuca returned it all the way to the end zone for a pick-six. The defense also recovered one fumble, forced by Keaton Ellis and recovered by Kevin Winston Jr. Jaylen Reed, Zane Durant, and Zuriah Fisher each chipped in a sack.

Nittany Lions won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Penn State stopped the Blue Hens on their opening possession of the game and scored on the ensuing drive, going up 7-0 with 8:19 remaining in the first quarter. Singleton punched in the first Nittany Lion touchdown of the day on a two-yard run, the result of a 13-play, 60-yard drive.

Reed posted a third-down sack on Delaware’s next trip down the field, forcing a punt and giving the Nittany Lion offense excellent field position. The Nittany Lions converted a fourth-and-three situation on the Delaware 19 with a four-yard completion from Allar to Harrison Wallace III, setting up a scoring opportunity for Penn State. Allen found the end zone three plays later on a four-yard rushing touchdown, giving the Nittany Lions a 14-0 lead at the 2:16 mark of the opening frame.

Delaware answered with a 66-yard rushing touchdown, cutting the Penn State lead back to seven with 1:05 left in the first quarter.

Singleton scored two more rushing touchdowns in the first half, reaching a career-best three rushing scores in the game before the teams headed to their locker rooms for the break. The sophomore’s third touchdown put the Nittany Lions up 28-7 with 4:36 remaining in the opening half.

Penn State scored once more before the end of the half when Allar found Warren in the end zone for a one-yard score with 22 seconds left to play in the second quarter. The touchdown was the culmination of a six-play 49-yard scoring drive that took just 52 seconds off the clock and put the Nittany Lions up 35-7.

The Penn State offense marched down the field and scored on the initial possession of the second half, going up 42-7 with just under ten minutes remaining in the third quarter. Allar scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard sneak.

On the very next drive, Ellis forced a fumble that was picked up by Winston Jr. for the Nittany Lions’ first takeaway of the season. Pribula then entered the game and drove the Lions down the field and scored on a 6-yard rushing touchdown. With Pribula at the helm, the Nittany Lions went 31 yards in five plays for the score.

The Penn State defense followed up, on the ensuing Delaware drive, with its first touchdown of the 2023 campaign on a DeLuca pick-six with 2:43 left in the third quarter to go up 56-7.

The Nittany Lions scored one more touchdown in the fourth quarter, a four-yard pass from Pribula to Evans, to go up 63-7.