Tag: KeAndre Lambert-Smith

Drew Allar tosses 4 TDs as Penn State shuts out Iowa, 31-0

Penn State was in full control of Iowa in all areas in a 31-0 victory.

Rain and blustery winds could not dampen the mood for the second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history on Saturday night. Not when the defense was dominant in pitching a shutout and [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] passed for four touchdowns in a 31-0 victory over Iowa. Penn State’s dominant victory was a performance that put on display Penn State’s championship-caliber defense and a strong efficient and steady offensive performance against a program that typically plays some of the best defense in the Big Ten.

How good was the Penn State defense? The Nittany Lions not only didn’t allow Iowa to score, but the Hawkeyes were held to just 76 yards of total offense, including 20 rushing yards as a team.

Penn State’s offense got off to a bit of a slow start against a stingy Iowa defense, but the running game continued to chew up yardage on the Hawkeyes. [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] carried the football 21 times for 72 hard-earned yards and [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] rushed for 49 yards on 17 carries. The ground game was especially solid in the second half as Penn State continued to wear down the Iowa defenders.

Penn State may still be on the lookout for a second receiver to really step up into a reliable role, but Allar was in sync with his tight ends. Tyler Warren was on the receiving end of two of Allar’s four touchdown passes. [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Khalil Dinkins[/autotag] each added another. Lambert-Smith led the Nittany Lions with 8 receptions and 66 receiving yards.

Allar’s night came to an end in the fourth quarter with Penn State up 31-0. As he left the game, making way for [autotag]Beau Pribula[/autotag] to get some time running the offense, Allar completed 25-of-37 passes for 166 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He has still not thrown an interception in his young college football career. Allar also rushed for 22 yards on eight attempts.

Penn State’s defense was all over the Iowa offense, which was playing without three of its top players due to injury. Penn State’s defense only sacked Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara twice in the game, but they made for a long evening for the former Michigan passer (who won with Michigan in his last trip to Beaver Stadium in 2021). [autotag]Curtis Jacobs[/autotag] was all over the action with 2 fumble recoveries and a tackle for loss in the game. [autotag]Adisa Isaac[/autotag] also landed on a loose football after [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag] knocked the ball out of the hands of McNamara on a sack.

Penn State will continue Big Ten play next week with a road trip to Northwestern.

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Top 10 Big Ten receiving yardage leaders after Week 3

Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. is your new Big Ten receiving yards leader after Week 3.

After a slow start in the season opener, the Big Ten’s top wide receiver prospect for the 2024 NFL draft has taken over the top spot in the conference when it comes to cumulative receiving yards. Ohio State wide receiver Marvin HArrison Jr. had his second straight game with over 100 receiving yards in Week 3, and he has now established himself as the Big Ten’s receiving yardage leader.

Harrison Jr. had 160 receiving yards in Week 2 and followed that up this past weekend with 126 receiving yards and his third touchdown of the year as the Buckeyes demolished Youngstown State at home. He is the Big Ten’s only receiver with at least 300 receiving yards and the next closest to him, Michigan’s Cornelius Johnson, is 80 yards behind him on the top 10 receiving yardage leaderboard.

Here are the Big Ten’s top 10 receiving yardage leaders through Week 3. And here are the top 10 passing yardage leaders and the top 10 rushing yardage leaders.

Best photos from Penn State’s Week 3 win at Illinois

Best photos from Penn State’s Week 3 win at Illinois.

It sure looked like a beautiful mid-September afternoon for some college football in Week 3, and the Penn State defense looked absolutely stunning. Penn State improved to 3-0 in the 2023 college football season with a 30-13 victory at Illinois, the Big Ten opener for both schools. Penn State’s defense forced five turnovers in the win, and each one of them was as pretty as could be for those watching with blue and white glasses on.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s third game of the season, its first road test of the season.

Penn State defense forces 5 turnovers in 30-13 win at Illinois

Penn State 30, Illinois 13: Penn State defense carries Nittany Lions to Big Ten-opening win at Illinois

Taking the road for the first time this season proved to be a bit of a challenge for the Penn State offense. Fortunately, the offense didn’t make the trip to Illinois alone this weekend. The Penn State defense was dominant in a 30-13 victory over the Illini with five forced turnovers in the game. Although Penn State struggled to gain control on offense, the Nittany Lions scored 20 points off the five Illini turnovers.

[autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] had a rough outing in his first road start for Penn State, but he had some big moments to help lead the team to a win. The biggest moment of the game came late in the first half for Allar as he ran for a first down, hurried to the line, and delivered a dime down the field to [autotag]Liam Clifford[/autotag] for a big gain to set up a late field goal just before halftime. That gave Penn State a 16-7 lead but the offense could not carry over any momentum at the start of the second half.

Penn State’s quarterback ended his afternoon completing 16 of 33 pass attempts for 208 yards without a touchdown, but he also did not turn the football over despite being under consistent pressure by an aggressive and well-schemed Illinois defense.

Allar also did not get some help from his wide receivers. Allar made some good throws that simply were dropped by his intended targets, including a pair to receiver Malik McClain. But Allar did miss a few open looks and couldn’t quite connect with a couple of his passes. Overall though, Allar seemed to handle the pressure of his first start out of Beaver Stadium well enough to pick up the win, and there is clearly room to improve.

But this game was all about the defense. Penn State allowed just seven points for the second straight game and has yet to allow an opponent to score more than 15 points. On a day when Penn State’s offense needed an assist, it was the defense that set the tone and shut down nearly every threat by the Illini. It started right from the start with three interceptions of Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. Penn State managed just 13 points off of those early turnovers, but the defense made plays when it was needed the most.

[autotag]Johnny Dixon[/autotag] came up with a massive interception in the second half immediately after a big passing play by the Illini with the game still very much in question. Or so it seemed. [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag], [autotag]Daequan Hardy[/autotag], and [autotag]Cam Miller[/autotag] also got their hands on an Illinois pass attempt. Linebacker [autotag]Kobe King[/autotag] also recovered a fumble forced by [autotag]Dominic DeLuca[/autotag].

Head coach [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] will be able to look at many self-inflicted wounds by his team in the coming week as well. Poor penalties on took Penn State’s offense out of favorable positions, including a poor unsportsmanlike penalty on receiver [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] in the first half that turned a 3rd-and-2 into a 3rd-and-17. Allar smacked his hand on a defender’s helmet on the following play and [autotag]Alex Felkins[/autotag] had a 52-yard field goal blocked. Illinois followed up with its first touchdown of the game on the ensuing possession to cut the Penn State lead to 13-7. Penn State was flagged for six penalties in the game, costing Penn State 65 yards.

Penn State will be home next weekend for a primetime matchup with Iowa. It will be the official whiteout game for the Nittany Lions.

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Penn State vs. Illinois: Stream, injury report, broadcast info for Saturday

How to watch Penn State’s road game at Illinois on Saturday.

Big Ten play is officially here this weekend for Penn State and Illinois. The Illini will be looking to score a sizable upset against the Nittany Lions, who look to continue playing well and taking care of business in the first month of the season. Penn State’s first road test of the season will be showcased on Fox as the Big Noon Kickoff game, although the Fox pregame show will be broadcasting from another venue this weekend.

Penn State owns the all-time series lead on Illinois although the Illini came away victorious in the most recent meeting between these two schools with a dramatic nine-overtime game in 2021.

Here is how to catch this weekend’s Big Ten matchup between the Nittany Lions and Illini.

  • Date: Saturday, Sept. 16
  • Time: 12 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: Fox
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)

Penn State vs. Illinois injury report

Penn State’s injury report will feature a long list of players as questionable for this weekend’s matchup, including wide receiver [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag], cornerback [autotag]Daequan Hardy[/autotag], and defensive end [autotag]Coziah Izzard[/autotag]. Penn State does not typically get too detailed with injury situations but the Big Ten has likely forced the issue a bit with the mandated player availability reports. Hardy and Izzard have already missed playing time this season and Lambert-Smith was banged up a little bit last week against Delaware. We’ll pay close attention to this week’s player availability report prior to kickoff.

Illinois is seemingly in better shape as far as player availability this week. Only backup cornerback Tyson Rooks has been noted as questionable for this weekend minus the small handful of players already ruled out for the season.

Players to Watch

Penn State

Nick Singleton, Running Back – This could be the big game we have been waiting for for Nick Singleton. Although he scored three times last week, Singleton could be in for some big gains this week against an Illini defense that ranks at the bottom of the Big Ten through two weeks against the run (224 rushing yards allowed per game).

2023 stats: 25 carries, 117 yards, 4 TDs, 2 kickoff returns, 45 kickoff return yards

Illinois

Isaiah Williams, Wide Receiver – The big playmaker for the Illini is Isaiah Williams, and Penn State head coach James Franklin knows he will be the player the Illini want to get the football in every way possible. Williams has yet to score this season, but that drought isn’t likely to carry on much longer.

2023 stats: 11 receptions, 150 yards, 0 touchdowns

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Top 10 Big Ten receiving yardage leaders after Week 2

Penn State’s KeAndre Lambert-Smith is the Big Ten’s leading receiver through Week 2. Here is the rest of the top 10.

The second week of the college football season saw a much better performance from arguably the nation’s best wide receiver in the nation. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. was limited in his production in the season opener but Harrison had a much better showing in Week 2. As a result, Harrison moved up the Big Ten receiving leaderboard fairly quickly.

But it is Penn State’s [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] who leads the Big Ten in receiving yards after two full weeks of college football. How long he remains on top is probably in doubt as Harrison gets rolling.

When it comes to receiving touchdowns, nobody has been more productive than Michigan’s roman Wilson. Wilson already has five touchdown catches for the Wolverines early on this season, easily outpacing his fellow Big Ten receivers so far.

Here are the top 10 receiving yardage leaders in the Big Ten through Week 2 of the college football season. Also be sure to review the top 10 passing yardage leaders in the conference.

6 takeaways from Penn State’s victory over Delaware

Here are 6 big takeaways from Penn State’s victory over Delaware in Week 2.

It was a mismatch on paper and it turned out to be a mismatch on the field. Penn State dominated Delaware on Saturday winning 63-7.

The game was a scheduled tune-up despite what head coach James Franklin was telling the team and media before kickoff. That showed on the field as the Nittany Lions dominated the game from the jump and cruised to a victory that put them 2-0 on the year.

As with every game, there are always takeaways. While Saturday wasn’t going to show much in terms of the outlook on the rest of the season, there is plenty to discuss.

Here are six takeaways from Penn State’s victory over Delaware.

Report Card: Grading Penn State’s dominant Week 2 win vs. Delaware

Grading Penn State’s performance against Delaware in Week 2

There are some weeks in the course of a college football season where you can probably fill out the postgame report card ahead of time and not have to worry about it. Penn State’s Week 2 matchup against Delaware was one of those games where you hoped things would go as planned and you wouldn’t have to worry about too many issues against an FCS program.

And they did.

Penn State’s offense and defense each took care of business against the Blue Hens in the first all-time meeting between the two schools. Delaware may go on to have a solid season in the FCS championship hunt, but they were overmatched in every facet of the game against Penn State, which is also hoping to set the tone for what they hope will be a playoff push of their own this season.

It may have been a home game against an FCS program collecting a solid check, but Penn State did just about everything you would expect a top-10 team to do in this situation. Here are the grades for Penn State’s performance following its 63-7 victory over Delaware.

Quarterback

Matthew O’Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Grade: A

After being named the Big Ten offensive player of the week, [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] picked up right where he left off a week ago. The touchdown pass count was down but Allar completed 22 of 26 pass attempts for 204 yards with a touchdown pass (and a touchdown run) for a fine outing before getting an early rest in the second half.

Allar showed great vision and patience and just made smart throws that were taking advantage of the holes Delaware’s defense was giving him.

Backup quarterback Beau Pribula played for most of the second half in relief of Allar. Pribula attempted five attempts with three completions for 22 yards and a short touchdown in the fourth quarter. Pribula added to the ground attack with

NEXT: Running Backs

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Best photos from Penn State’s Week 2 win over Delaware

Check out the best photos from Penn State’s lopsided Week 2 victory over Delaware from Beaver Stadium.

Penn State went about business as usual in Week 2 against visiting Delaware. The first all-time meeting with the Blue Hens was all Penn State on both sides of the football from start to finish as Penn State improved to 2-0 with a 63-7 victory over the FCS program.

The game went about as you would expect for Penn State. The offense had far too much for Delaware to handle, the line of scrimmage battles favored Penn State on both sides of the football, and the Penn State defense really made just one bad play all afternoon, leading to Delaware’s only score in the game.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s blowout victory over Delaware in Week 2.

Penn State WR Keandre Lambert-Smith takes trip to medical tent

Penn State WR KeAndre Lambert-Smith took a trip to the medical tent in the first half vs. Delaware

With Penn State marching toward a possible double-digit lead on visiting Delaware, the Nittany Lions saw one of their top offensive weapons leave the game with an apparent injury. Wide receiver [autotag]Keandre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] was helped off the field late in the first quarter of Penn State’s home game against Delaware on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium.

A video replay showed Lambert-Smith had his ankle rolled over toward the end of a play as Penn State was running the football. He was slow to get off the field but did so under his own power.

Lambert-Smith returned to the game on Penn State’s next offensive series, following a long touchdown run by Delaware. Lambert-Smith picked up a gain of 20 yards on a flea flicker from quarterback Drew Allar but ended the drive with a  trip to the medical tent on the Penn State sideline.

 

Lambert-Smith did reportedly come out of the tent with no helmet in hand.

We will keep an eye on this developing situation. Lambert-Smith is no stranger to injury issues during his time at Penn State. Whatever the degree of this particular medical concern is, Penn State may be wise to let him have the rest of the afternoon off.

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