The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 56-0 win over Kent State

Penn State destroyed Kent State Saturday evening in Beaver Stadium, 56-0, in the team’s final non-conference game of the regular season.

Let’s get straight into the breakdown.

Good

Drew Allar: He’s the quarterback. I have to talk about how he played every week, and this one is no different. Allar continues to look like the elite talent the Nittany Lions thought they were getting in the 2022 recruiting class. He’s shown off his arm strength all year, but Saturday — against a terrible Kent State team, admittedly — he showed his mobility and ability to create throws with his legs.

Allar was able to escape the Golden Flash pass rush and give receivers the opportunity to freelance and get open. Those are the types of plays that may be easy and an added bonus against an inferior opponent, but will become necessary when the Nittany Lions take on the likes of Ohio State and USC later this season. It’s another layer to his game that will aide his rise to being one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season.

Offensive creativity: I continue to be impressed by offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and how he’s built this offense. He’s called great games in all three of his chances as the Nittany Lion offensive coordinator and has done a nice job of playing for the win in current weeks, while also putting more out there for the next opponent to worry about. This week that meant putting tight end Tyler Warren at quarterback — the position he played in high school — and having him take off on and attempt a pass on two different plays.

You could argue there’s no need to pull that stuff out against Kent State, but now Illinois must spend time preparing for it. And I’m willing to bet that Kotelnicki put the two most bland plays he has of that formation on tape, and will likely build off it and show something completely different out of it when we see it in more meaningful spots.

Anthony Speca: There were a lot of depth players who played in this game but it was Speca who made the biggest impression. He was all over the field in his snaps, creating pressure on passing plays and filling his responsibilities in the running game. There will surely be mistakes if a higher rep count happens, but his limited sample was a positive one Saturday.

And the freshman linebacker still may — and probably will — redshirt this season, but gave fans reason for optimism at the position moving forward. The one thing that could make him a contributor this year is the lack of depth at the position in front of him, especially with Dom DeLuca leaving the game early and not returning. If DeLuca is forced to miss any time moving forward, it could push Speca and others at the position up the depth chart.

Tyler Warren: I mentioned Warren earlier because of how Kotelnicki used him, but you can strip that away and he’s still an elite tight end. Penn State head coach James Franklin has been effusive with praise for Warren in recent weeks and he’s backing up his coach’s words. The tight end has been elite as a receiver, getting open — in part because he’s schemed open — and making plays once he has the ball in his hands. He made one of the most memorable plays from Saturday’s game, hauling in a one handed catch and taking a shot from a defender near the sideline. And, as Franklin emphasized postgame, Warren’s blocking is among the best in the country at the position.

He’s quickly proven to be one of the best players on the team and right now is the best weapon the offense has as a receiving option.

Bad

Kent State: It’s not all their fault. They’re young and inexperienced and were supposed to be bad. But man, they are really bad. The Golden Flashes managed to keep the game close in the first quarter at 7-0, but that was more happenstance than anything they did to outplay Penn State. Backup quarterback Beau Pribula came in for a snap and threw an interception after Kent State ran a defensive line stunt that led a defensive lineman to the right place at the right time.

If not for that, Penn State probably would have ended up winning the quarter 14-0 and pulled starters right at halftime rather than a series into the second half. Even with how the first 30 minutes played out, the Nittany Lions likely would have won by more than the 71 that Tennessee did when it played Kent State a week prior if they would have kept their starters in. All of that said, Kent State head coach Kenni Burns seems to have what it takes from a culture-building standpoint and should be able to make the team competitive in the MAC if he’s given enough time to do it.

Ugly

Injuries: This is the unfortunate side effect of games like this. One team is outmatched and outmanned and it can lead to injuries for a multitude of reasons. Some of that is because one team is bigger, faster and stronger and some is because inexperienced players will inevitably be on the field on both sides, adding a layer of chaos to the equation.

That manifested itself early when Kent State quarterback Devin Kargman left the game with an injury that required him to be stretchered off and taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center, and again when backup quarterback JD Sherrod was helped off the field and did not return. Burns did not update either players’ status after the game. I don’t know what could have been done to prevent either situation from unfolding, but it’s still difficult to watch for a team that was put in a bad spot by its program’s scheduling.