Finally, Penn State is back in the win column. It wasn’t a perfect game, and it certainly wasn’t easy, but the program clearly put in a lot of work during the bye week.
The Nittany Lions threw out a lot of new wrinkles that we didn’t see during the first part of the season, which will be explained in depth later. The players appeared to be rested and mentally fresh, and it all culminated in the first Penn State victory in more than a month.
There is a lot to be excited about after the 31-17 win over Purdue, but there are still things to improve on. The defense had an uneven day and there were some massive errors by Penn State that could have come back to bite them.
Here are five takeaways, including positives and negatives, from the Nittany Lions’
win on Saturday.
Cam Wallace
Running back Cam Wallace hardly even played in the first seven games of the season, carrying the ball 22 times for 125 yards. But the coaching staff saw a lot from him during the bye, and he was the focal point of the offense this week.
Wallace ran 22 times for 135 yards in what was the most spirited Penn State rushing attack of the season. He broke off a couple of chunk runs, and he was able to grind out tough yards in the power running game as well.
It will bode well for the rest of the Nittany Lions’ season if they can get that type of production on the ground consistently.
Unusual suspect
The Penn State wide receiver room is battered, with Chase Sowell and Koby Howard both out due to injury. The team knew it would need to rely on its tight ends and running backs in the passing game, and tight end Andrew Rappleyea stepped up big time.
He was tied for the most receptions on the team with four, and he was second with 45 receiving yards. He also caught Penn State’s only passing touchdown of the game.
The Nittany Lions are going to have to patch together offensive game plans if Howard and Sowell out miss more time, so Rappleyea continuing to perform like this would take a ton of pressure off the coaching staff.
Mountain out of a molehill
Special teams is a facet of football that is easy to be taken for granted because of how minuscule of an impact it has on the game. But it’s arguably the most important phase of the game because when a mistake happens on special teams, it gets magnified a ton.
Penn State’s unit has been excellent this season, but it had a big blunder in the first half when it allowed a blocked punt for a touchdown. It didn’t affect the game in the end, but you don’t want to make a habit of having shoddy kick coverage.
Control the clock
It was clear that the Nittany Lions made a concerted effort to hold the ball against the Boilermakers. They ran the ball more times Saturday night than they did in any other game this season.
That was reflected in the time of possession battle, where Penn State held the ball more than 40 minutes. The team ran for 269 yards in total, and it made it impossible for Purdue to get a rhythm offensively. It’s hard to win a game where you possess the ball for less than 20 minutes.
Adjustments
Nobody knows what head coach Matt Campbell told his team in the locker room at the half, but clearly it worked. Penn State didn’t play bad in the first two quarters, but it was in a tight contest with Purdue that felt like it could tilt either way. It was a completely different tune in the final two frames.
The defense was back to being suffocating, the run game knocked the wind out of Purdue’s sails and there were no detrimental mishaps. The blue and white came out of the locker room focused and disciplined, and it went a long way toward earning their first win since the middle of September.
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: 5 major takeaways from Penn State’s convincing win over Purdue
