It was not an overwhelming or inspiring performance, but the Penn State Nittany Lions (2-0) defeated mid-major MAC conference opponent Akron (1-1) on Saturday in front of just over 97,000 fans in the Beaver Stadium opener.
James Franklin made his home coaching debut after leading Penn State to a victory in Ireland last week to open the season, against Central Florida. Turnovers continued to be an issue for his team, but the scoreboard ultimately showed a 21-3 advantage for the home team in the end. Sophomore QB Christian Hackenberg continued to put up video game numbers with 319 yards and three touchdowns on 22 completions, but his two interceptions give him four on the year through the first two games.
Hackenberg found running back Bill Belton on a 22 yard completion for the game’s first points in the first quarter. The teams traded mostly punts the rest of the first half and it was just 7-0, Penn State, at halftime. After an early fumble in the third quarter, Akron kicked a field goal to make it 7-3, wasting an opportunity to tie the game after being given a short field. Hackenberg made them pay with a touchdown drive later in the quarter, finding tight end Jesse James to complete a ten-play, 79 yard scoring drive.
James scored again on a sparkling 44-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter to solidify the victory. He finished with just those two catches, totaling 57 yards for the two scores. Geno Lewis led all receivers with 98 yards on six catches and DaeSean Hamilton added a game-high seven grabs for 69 yards. The Penn State running game continued to struggle, despite facing a rather small Akron defensive front. Belton, Zach Zwinak and Akeel Lynch shared the bulk of the carries for a unit that totaled 106 yards on 31 carries. Lynch had seven for 45 yards, Belton had nine for 36 yards and Zwinak had ten attempts for 30 yards.
Akron was largely unable to move the ball throughout the day and, when they did, squandered opportunities once deep inside Penn State territory. A missed field goal and a failed fourth down conversion ended any chances of upsetting Penn State at Happy Valley. QB Kyle Pohl was 24-46 for 208 yards. He threw no interceptions as the Zips did not turn the ball over at all. Penn State, in contrast, had three turnovers. The Nittany Lions are now minus-5 in turnover margin on the young season, though they escape anyways with a 2-0 record.
Next up on the schedule is a visit to Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights (2-0) make their Big Ten debut. That game will kick off at 8 pm next Saturday, September 13 in Piscataway, NJ.
