#7 Penn State 27, UCLA 11
With so many people including the gamblers looking for a blowout, James Franklin’s boys once again did not disappoint us naysayers who believe that any point spread greater than two touchdowns is a profit opportunity. Take the opponent and the points. In this case, we were looking at 28.5 points, whereas the margin of victory was only sixteen points.
Sure, a win is a win, but where the hell do these humongous spreads come from? My conjecture is that many people’s inflated expectations for this Penn State team do not match up with reality. If I may further opine, the Lions are overrated at #7 and risk a rude awakening by bursting that inflated expectation bubble next week against USC.
The Nittany Lions did not score until halfway through the second quarter. This is not how a #7 team should perform against an unranked opponent. They turned to the running game early, with the game’s outcome still up in the air. Perhaps Drew Allar’s inaccurate throwing and inability to see open receivers had something to do with that. However, they wound up with only 85 yards rushing versus 237 yards passing. UCLA outrushed Penn State, 93-85.
UCLA dominated what Matt Herb called “increasingly irrelevant time of possession” by close to six minutes. They managed to get fourteen first downs against our vaunted defense and converted two of four fourth down opportunities. Missed tackles at all levels of the PSU defense helped the Bruins hold onto the ball for far too long.
For a while, it seemed as if the officials had bet on Penn State and wanted Franklin’s Boys to cover the spread. A questionable defensive holding call nullified what would have been a game-changing interception in the end zone by UCLA.
To give credit where due, UCLA’s young quarterback, Justyn Martin, was sparkling in his first starting role, necessitated by regular starter Ethan Garber’s leg injury. He went 22-30 for 167 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. Garber has ten interceptions thus far this season, so this was a welcome change for the Uclans. Martin is their quick, mobile quarterback of the future (if he doesn’t use this performance to showcase himself for some NIL money through the ridiculous transfer portal, or whatever the hell these thinly disguised professionals do these days).
Another positive move was Penn State’s change at kicker. Ryan Barker played this game instead of the beleaguered Sander Sahaydak and had a perfect day, 2-2 for field goals and 3-3 on PATs.
So, no, there wasn’t a four-touchdown difference between these two teams, either theoretically or on the scoreboard. Unless something drastic happens in the Top Ten, Penn State is likely to maintain its #7 ranking. Seems over ranked for a team that does just enough to win. USC will test their mettle next week at the L.A. Memorial Colisseum.
I’ll be back mid-week with some insouciant comments regarding this season’s first game against a ranked (rather than rank) opponent.
