Highs and Lows: Penn State throttles Auburn on the plains

Penn State turned it on in the second half and cruised to an unexpectedly comfortable 41-12 win over Auburn on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions forced four turnovers in the win and ran for 245 yards on the day. Here’s a look at the game’s highs and lows. 

PLAYER OF THE GAME: To be clear, Sean Clifford deserves a ton of praise. And, under any other circumstances, he’d probably be the player of the game. But, Nick Singleton had other plans, taking 10 carries for 124 yards with two touchdowns, putting a cherry on Penn State’s dominating performance with a 54-yard touchdown carry early in the fourth quarter.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Penn State’s offense wasn’t stagnant in the first half, but in nursing a 14-6 lead, the advantage that seemingly had played out on the field hadn’t been reflected on the scoreboard. At the 13:23 mark in the third quarter, Nick Singleton upended that. His 53-yard carry, bursting into the open field and racing down the sideline, took the air out of Jordan-Hare Stadium and, to a certain extent, Auburn. 

BEST PASS: Mitchell Tinsley’s sideline catch late in the first quarter was a thing of beauty. A ball put perfectly to his outside shoulder from Clifford, Tinsley contorted his body, timed the jump, and hauled in the 34-yard pass for a huge chunk play. The completion set up Penn State’s touchdown on a Clifford designed run just two plays later.

BEST RUN: It felt like it was going to happen sooner or later, despite Nick Singleton’s mere 10 yards on his first five carries. His first shot in the second half, it did. Bursting to his right, Singleton sped 53 yards upfield before he was finally tackled at the Auburn 5-yard line. Two plays later, Singleton plunged into the end zone to give Penn State a 21-6 lead.

BEST CATCH: Tinsley might also deserve the nod for this category, but we have to recognize Zakee Wheatley’s lay-out interception to close the first quarter. With T.J. Finley being chased down for what might have been a sack, Auburn’s quarterback tried to send one out of bounds, but instead, Wheatley stretched out for a critical interception. The pick was Penn State’s first of the 2022 season.

WORST DROP: We might call this one “BEST FORCED DROP” for Penn State’s Chop Robinson. With Manny Diaz’s defense dialed up to create havoc early in the second half, playing off Penn State’s 21-6 advantage, the Maryland transfer forced a fumble from T.J. Finley to give the Nittany Lions prime field position. 

BEST SACK: Curtis Jacobs brought down T.J. Finley on a key third-and-goal from the 9-yard line at a pivotal moment early in the game. Blitzing from the left side, the Nittany Lions’ linebacker quickly swallowed up Finley to force the field goal. At the start of the second half, Adisa Isaac notched his first sack of the season when he cleaned up a near-miss for Hakeem Beamon.

BEST HIT: Sean Clifford burst into the open field with an eye toward picking up a first down near midfield on Penn State’s first possession of the afternoon. Auburn’s Owen Pappoe had other ideas though, unloading a wicked shot, facemask to facemask, sending Clifford flying backward and the ball to the turf. The ruling on the field was a fumble out of bounds, leaving Penn State to try a fourth-and-1 that came up short. Abdul Carter’s forced fumble late in the first half deserves a nod here, too.

BEST EFFORT: Jarquez Hunter took a pedestrian-looking screen pass and turned it into a Penn State-hurdling touchdown to open the fourth quarter for Auburn. A nice play for the hosts, it was followed with a failed two-point attempt.

BEST KICK: Barney Amor’s 46-yard punt with less than a minute to play in the first half was picture-perfect. Raining from the sky down to the 3-yard line, Keionte Scott brought the return out just six yards to the 9. Coming off a rough outing against Ohio last week, Jake Pinegar’s 49-yard field goal absolutely gets a highlight in this space, too. 

BEST RETURN: Ji’Ayir Brown not only reeled in his first interception of the season late in the third quarter, but he also weaved through traffic to put Penn State in prime field position. Intercepting Robby Ashford at the Penn State 10, Brown went 27 yards the other way. By the time an unnecessary roughness was leveled against the Tigers, Penn State found itself at the Auburn 48.

BEST DECISION: Penn State desperately needed some momentum coming out of Auburn’s field-spanning field goal drive late in the first half. Mike Yurcich, Sean Clifford and the Nittany Lion helped provide it. Highlighted by a Clifford to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, back to Clifford play, Penn State got the response it needed when Kaytron Allen plunged three yards for a touchdown with 1:46 remaining.

WORST DECISION: How the Big Ten officiating crew decided Johnny Dixon held on a crucial third-and-long for Auburn, coming out of Penn State’s second-half score, is a mystery. The play extended life for the Tigers on what otherwise would have been a three-and-out.

MOST TELLING MOMENT: Out of the pistol, Kaytron Allen plowed over Auburn’s defensive front and into the end zone to give Penn State a 31-6 lead with just a minute left in the third quarter. While Allen celebrated, Juice Scruggs trotted across the back line of the end zone and pageant waved to the blank faces of Auburn fans.