The Rose Bowl was fully expected to be a defensive battle between Penn State and Utah, and the first quarter certainly had that vibe going for a while. But Kalen King coming up with the game’s first turnover sparked the Nittany Lions to put the first dent in the scoreboard in the most old-school way imaginable.
[autotag]Kalen King[/autotag] picked off a deep ball from Utah quarterback Cam Rising as the Utah quarterback slightly overthrew his intended receiver and left it hanging just long enough for King to track it down.
Kalen King comes up with the game's first turnover! Offense back on the field. pic.twitter.com/RQbjNRAsn2
— Nittany Lions Wire (@NittanyLionWire) January 2, 2023
From there, [autotag]Sean Clifford[/autotag] and the Penn State offense went to work. With a key run by [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] and a nice pre-snap read by Sean Clifford along the way, Penn State entered the red zone and got into a position to hand the ball off to [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] out of a truly power formation and it worked beautifully as Singleton muscled his way through the line and tumbled into the end zone for the game’s first score.
You love to see it. pic.twitter.com/4arnXKmzLy
— Nittany Lions Wire (@NittanyLionWire) January 2, 2023
Penn State’s offense had to take a couple of drives to start figuring out how to read Utah’s defense, and there is still a long way to go, but this was a solid drive from start to finish, and it all started with the defense creating the opportunity.
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