Instant Analyis: Penn State survives a close one against Bowling Green
After a big win on the road against West Virginia last weekend, Penn State fans expected to see a dominant win on Saturday over Bowling Green. However, the Falcons had different plans.
In the first half alone, Penn State allowed Bowling Green to total nearly 300 yards of offense and 24 points, giving them a 24-20 halftime lead.
“You expected Bowling Green to be the better of the two MAC teams, but still, you didn’t expect Bowling Green to come right down the field and score right away,” said Blue White Illustrated’s Sean Fitz. “And then, they did it a couple times in the first half. Penn State’s defense was absolutely gashed. There was no real one thing that you could pin down. It was through the air. It was on the ground. The quarterback was surgical at times. That’s an issue that Penn State is going to have to think about going into the bye week.”
However, the Nittany Lions, who came into this game as 34.5-point favorites at sportsbooks, did step it up in the second half, limiting the Falcons to just 89 yards and a late field goal. Offensively, both running backs, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, rushed for over 100 yards, while quarterback Drew Allar totaled 204 yards passing, two touchdowns and an interception. Nearly two-thirds of that yardage went to tight Tyler Warren, as the senior totaled 146 yards receiving on eight receptions.
Watch: Penn State quarterback Drew Allar recaps win over Bowling Green
“There will be tons of things that they try to take away from this game and get better at,” said BWI’s Nate Bauer. “All of those are absolutely warranted, but I saw some good news in the sense of a Drew Allar performance that, again, showed demonstrable strides from the player that he was last year into the player that he is this year.”
Added Fitz, “You saw Tyler Warren involved big-time, which is such a huge part of this offense because that’s going to take itself and melt into the running game. That short stuff in the flat is going to be their bread and butter and they’re going to keep coming back to Tyler Warren. [He had] a lot of yards after the catch as well. I thought he was spectacular today.”
Penn State now heads into an early bye week with a 2-0 record. They’ll play their second of four-straight home games on Sept. 21 against Kent State.
