Saturday, September 2, 2017

Penn State zips past Akron

Head Coach James Franklin and the defending Big Ten Champion Penn State Nittany Lions took on the Akron Zips in Happy Valley. Penn State comes in with high expectations and the Zips are looking to dash the Nittany Lions chances. Which team will prevail in the opening week of college football? The Zips started with the ball to start the game at their own 25. After Warren Ball got nine yards, Thomas Woodson would go to Tra'von Chapman for a two yard reception for a first down but Akron would have to punt the ball away after failing to get another first down. Penn State would start on their 26. They would face a third and 3 but Trace McSorley would get 15 yards to the PSU 48. McSorley would get another first down by throwing to Juwan Johnson for a 16 yard completion to get into Zips territory. McSorley would go for ten yards on second and ten to the Akron 26. On the next play, McSorley would go to DeAndre Thompson for 11 yards to get into the red zone at the 11. On second and 12, McSorley's pass would be intercepted in the end zone by Zach Guiser. The Zips would go three and out on the next possession and would punt the football. After a running into the kicker penalty, the Zips would punt once again and DeAndre Thompkins would return the punt 61 yards for a touchdown. Tyler Davis would kick the extra point for the early 7-0 lead with 8:13 remaining in the first quarter. The Zips would face a third and ten at their own 27 and Woodson would connect with Fransohn Bickley for 13 and a first down. Akron would face another third down but this time, the pass was intercepted by Amani Oruwaiye at their PSU 25. Saquon Barkley would get the ball on back-to-back plays and get a first down on a second and two. Barkley would get 10 on the next play for another first down. After a screen play was snuffed out for a six yard loss on first down, McSorley would go to DaeSean Hamilton for a 29 yard completion and to get them into Zips territory. The Nittany Lions would face a third and ten and McSorley would get the ball to Barkley and he would juke around and go all around to get a first down and get the Nittany Lions into the red zone. Two plays later, McSorley would find Mike Gesicki for a 13 yard touchdown pass. The extra point would be made and would lead 14-0 with 49 seconds to go in the first quarter. The Zips would get the ball and only got a two yard gain before the end of the first quarter with the Nittany Lions leading 14-0. The Zips would enter the second quarter facing a third and eight and Woodson would go to Kwadarrius Smith for a 12 yard completion to the Akron 38. After an incompletion and a false start, Curtis Cothran and Tyrell Chavis would get to Woodson for a sack. Facing a third and 19, Ball would only get ten and the Zips would be forced to punt. Thompson would return it to the Akron 39. They would face a third and two but the pass would fall incomplete. They would attempt a field goal, but the attempt was no good. The Zips would start at their own 21. Woodson would start the drive by throwing to AJ Coney for 12, then Woodson would go to the air and find Coney again for 13 and another first down. They would face a third and 10 at their own 46 after back-to-back incompletions but the pass attempt would fall incomplete and they would be forced to punt. The Nittany Lions would start at their own 13. On the first play of the drive, Barkley looked like he would go 87 yards and he would be marked out at the seven yard line. After a three yard Barkley run, McSorley would go four yards for a touchdown. The PAT would be made and would lead 21-0 with 8:48 remaining in the second quarter. The Zips would once again go three and out. The Nittany Lions would start at their own 38. First play of the drive, McSorley would go to Juwan Johnson for 28 into Akron territory at the 34. After a block in the back on second down, McSorley would go to Gesicki for a 35 yard reception for a first and goal at the 9. After Barkley got six yards on first and goal, they would go to Barkley again and he would go four yards for a touchdown. Tyler Davis's PAT was good and they would lead 28-0 with 4:49 left in the second quarter. Facing a third and one at their own 28, Ball would get two yards for a first down. They would be facing a third and 15 at their own 25 but the Nittany Lions would get a sack by Ryan Buchholz and the Zips would be forced to punt. Penn State started at the Akron 45. After a loss of six, McSorley would find Thompkins for 14 yards. On third and 2, McSorley would get no gain. Penn State would go for it on fourth and two and McSorley would find Juwan Johnson for seven yards on a nice catch on the sideline. On the next play, Barkley would go 30 yards for his second touchdown of the game. Tyler Davis would make the extra point for a 35-0 lead. The Zips would get the ball but would just get one play as it hit halftime with the Nittany Lions leading 35-0. Penn State would get the ball to start the second half. On second and two, McSorley would go to DaeSean Hamilton for 19 yards for a first down to their own 47. The Nittany Lions would get into Akron territory on a four yard gain. They would face a third and four but the Barkley run would fall short and would go for it on fourth down and three and Barkley would only get a yard and the Zips would get the ball back at their own 45. The Zips would go three and out and would punt and the Nittany Lions would get it at their own 9. On the first play of the drive, Saquon Barkley would go 25 yards to their own 34. They would face a third and seven and McSorley connects with Juwan Johnson for 33 yards to get into Akron territory at the 30. On a third and three, Penn State suffers a loss of 5 and Tyler Davis would attempt a 47 yard FG attempt and would make it 38-0 with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter. The Zips would get the ball at their own 15. Ball would get seven on first down then Woodson would go to Tra'Von Chapman for four and a first down. After losing 2, they would face a third and 12 at their own 24. Woodson would go to Ball for a first down but a holding call would bring it back. On third and 22, Andre Williams would get 7 and the Zips would have to punt. The Nittany Lions would get the ball at their own 42. After a loss of two, McSorley would go to Barkley for 43 yards to the Akron 17. On first down, Akron would get called for pass interference and go to the Akron 2. McSorley would go to Mike Gesicki from two yards out for their second of the game. Tyler Davis's PAT would make it 45-0 with 1:02 remaining in the third quarter. The Zips would face a third and 4 as the third quarter came to an end with the Nittany Lions led 45-0. The pass would fall incomplete and would have to punt, but the Nittany Lions would get called for leaping to give the Zips a first down. The Zips would get a first down, but a chop block would negate the play. A false start would move the Zips back more. They would face a third and 23 at their own 43 after a sack by Jarvis Miller. The Zips would be forced to punt after a loss on third down and the Nittany Lions would get it at their own 34. Tommy Stevens replaced McSorley at QB for Penn State. His first play was to DaeSean Hamilton for 26 to the Akron 40. Stevens would run for seven yards and the Zips would be called for a horsecollar tackle which would take the Nittany Lions to the Akron 18. Stevens would run on first down inside the ten and would slide and would get hit late and an Akron player would be called for targeting. Penn State would get the ball to the Akron 5. Stevens would go in from five yards in for a touchdown. The PAT would make 52-0 with 10:20 remaining in the fourth. The Zips would start at their own 25. The Zips would go three and out and would punt once again. The Nittany Lions would start at their own 27. The Nittany Lions would go three and out and would punt the ball to the Akron 33. The Zips went once again three and out and would punt it to the PSU 26. Stevens would start with a pass to Tom Pancoast for 12. A big play by Miles Sanders would be negated by a holding penalty would negate the big play. However, the drive would end with a punt. The Zips would get it at their own 20 after a touchback. The Zips would try to score but failed as the Penn State Nittany Lions shutout Akron 52-0.

Thoughts on the game: Just plain dominance by Penn State this afternoon. Saquon Barkley had a great game on the ground. Trace McSorley and Mike Gesicki had a great game passing and receiving respectively. The defensive play was great, the Nittany Lions would hold the Zips to 159 yards of total offense.

Stats
Passing
Akron
Thomas Woodson 12/23 71 yards 0 TD 1 INT
Kato Nelson 1/2 11 yards 0 TD 0 INT
Nick Johns 1/2 4 yards 0 TD 0 INT
Robbie Kelley 0/2 0 yards 0 TD 0 INT

Penn State
Trace McSorley 18/25 280 yards 2 TDs 1 INT
Tommy Stevens 3/5 42 yards 0 TD 0 INT

Rushing
Akron
Kato Nelson 9 carries 39 yards
Warren Ball 13 carries 27 yards
Manny Morgan 3 carries 13 yards
Andre Williams 1 carry 7 yards
Deltron Sands 1 carry 1 yard
Van Edwards Jr 5 carries -2 yards
Thomas Woodson 2 carries -12 yards

Penn State
Saquon Barkley 14 carries 172 yards 2 TDs
Trace McSorley 12 carries 48 yards 1 TD
Tommy Stevens 4 carries 16 yards 1 TD
Miles Sanders 1 carry 16 yards
Andre Robinson 2 carries -3 yards

Receiving
Akron
AJ Coney 2 catches 25 yards
Kwadarrius Smith 2 catches 23 yards
Fransohn Bickley 2 catches 21 yards
Tra'Von Chapman 3 catches 10 yards
Nate Stewart 1 catch 4 yards
Warren Ball 2 catches 3 yards
Newman Williams 1 catch 2 yards
Anthony Young 1 catch -2 yards

Penn State
Juwan Johnson 4 catches 84 yards
DaeSean Hamilton 3 catches 74 yards
Mike Gesicki 6 catches 58 yards 2 TDs
Saquon Barkley 3 catches 54 yards
DeAndre Thompkins 2 catches 29 yards
Tom Pancoast 1 catch 12 yards
Tommy Stevens 1 catch 7 yards
Brandon Polk 1 catch 4 yards

Return
Penn State
DeAndre Thompkins 1 Punt Return TD


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