At Dublin, Ireland’s Croke Park, the Penn State Nittany Lions (1-0) opened the season with a thrilling 26-24 victory over Central Florida (0-1) on Saturday morning.
The Nittany Lions won the Dan Rooney Trophy with the victory, honoring the Pittsburgh Steelers chairman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. Due to Penn State’s ineligibility for postseason play, former head coach Bill O’Brien had arranged for the team to play in an international game like this one, in lieu of a bowl game. Under new head coach James Franklin and second-year quarterback Christian Hackenberg, Penn State did not disappoint.
In the first quarter, the Penn State defense held Golden Knight’s starting quarterback Pete DiNovo in check and Zach Zwinak started the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run. Shawn Moffitt would kick a field goal in the second quarter but Penn State matched it before halftime with a Sam Ficken 22-yard kick, making it 10-3 at the intermission.
Ficken made another from 33 yards out early in the third quarter, but Central Florida began to click offensively under a new quarterback, Justin Holman. Holman ran in a touchdown from a yard out to cut the Penn State lead to three, but Hackenberg hit Geno Lewis just three plays later for a 79-yard strike, putting the Nittany Lions ahead 20-10 at the time.
Central Florida, however, would score early in the fourth on a Holman pass to Josh Reese. A long Penn State drive then resulted in a Ficken field goal with 3:30 remaining, building just a six point lead. Holman again led UCF down the field, eventually running one in for six from six yards out with just over one minute remaining. The extra point made it 24-23, Golden Knights.
Hackenberg again led Penn State down the field for one final drive, eventually getting the ball just inside the 20 with seconds remaining and timeouts to spare. Sam Ficken then made a 36-yard kick to seal the victory and open the season and James Franklin’s coaching tenure on a positive note.
The sophomore quarterback was 32-47 for a career-high 454 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His top two receivers, Lewis and Daesean Hamilton had 173 and 165 yards, respectively. Tight end Jesse James added seven receptions for 60 yards. The Penn State rushing attack combined for just 57 yards on 28 carries.
Ficken was 4-4 in the game, with all of his field goals coming from inside 40 yards. Penn State possessed the football on offense for 34 of 60 minutes, totaled 511 yards and scored on all red zone possessions, but three turnovers and nine penalties were nearly costly.
Penn State plays next on Saturday, Sept. 6 vs. Akron at Beaver Stadium in the home opener.
