Balanced Penn State defeats Army 20-14

Without injured running backs Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch, Penn State stuck with its run and short-passing game the produced limited success. The Black Knights didn’t go down without a fight, though, and scored once in each of the final two quarters, even finding themselves driving for the potential go-ahead score at one point. It cut Penn State’s lead to 20-14 with 10:59 left. Now, whether that’s true or not is anyone’s guess.

The biggest savior for Penn State was Jason Cabinda.

Head coach James Franklin recognized the deficiency.

Tight end Mike Gesicki broke away from an opposing defender and found himself left alone in space. “But I thought we executed pretty well when we needed to”.

They were a solid unit for most of the day. He keeps our mental psyche in check at all times. “There’s no doubt about it”.

Penn State offensive coordinator John Donovan hasn’t been made available to the media since the team’s media day in early August. He completed his only pass – a 32-yard hookup with Edgar Poe that set up Army’s first touchdown, but was sacked on his other attempt.

The Lions scored the first 13 points of the game and took a 10-0 lead into halftime.

Quarterback Christian Hackenberg located the wide-open tight end, and connected with him on a 33-yard touchdown. Saturday is also Gesicki’s birthday and he said the touchdown was his best gift thus far.

The first half was played in a steady rain, but the precipitation lightened in the third quarter and disappeared after that. Kline missed last season with an injury and worked his way back, running with the scout team a few weeks ago. Had Penn State’s offense been able to put together a few extended drives of their own and given their defense a few rest, the scoreline in this one would have looked different.

The Black Knights ran the ball well throughout the game, recording 316 rushing yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The play resulted in an incomplete pass intended for Nick Scott and Penn State converted the 4 down to DaeSean Hamilton before Scott capped the drive with his 11-yard touchdown run. He didn’t return to the field and in his place was reserve center Wendy Laurent.

It was a slow first half, in which Army couldn’t hold onto the football. Gulla hurt himself making a tackle in the second half.

Without starting safety Marcus Allen, outside linebacker Brandon Bell and reserve defensive end Evan Schwan – who all didn’t play because of injuries – the defense allowed Army to hang around. But Penn State’s offense was exactly prolific either.

Schurr finished with 74 yards on 24 carries but was more concerned with his four fumbles – two lost that turned into Penn State points.

“It was kind of a kickstarter to get our offense moving”, Godwin said.