Penn State 48, Massachusetts 7
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 20, 2014
Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania
Temperature:
76°
Head Official:
Tony Cannella
Attendance:
99155
By SportsDirect Inc.
Penn State 48, Massachusetts 7: Bill Belton and Zach Zwinak had two touchdown runs apiece in the second quarter alone as host Penn State rolled over the Minutemen.
Akeel Lynch added a team-high 81 rushing yards and a touchdown for the Nittany Lions, who amassed 228 yards on the ground while improving to 4-0 for the first time in six years. Christian Hackenberg completed 12-of-23 passes for 179 yards and D.J. Crook came off the bench to throw his first career touchdown pass as Penn State claimed its final tune-up before Big Ten play begins next Saturday versus Northwestern.
Massachusetts (0-4) produced just three rushing yards on 29 attempts in falling to 2-26 as an FBS squad. Blake Frohnapfel was 17-for-33 for 263 yards and hit Tajae Sharpe for a 77-yard score early in the fourth to avoid the shutout.
Matthew Wylie missed a 39-yard field goal on the first possession for the Minutemen before Penn State responded with back-to-back field goals by Sam Ficken and never looked back. Belton ran in a 24-yard TD early in the second and scored from 20 yards out soon after a Nittany Lions fumble recovery to make it 20-0 with 8:48 left before halftime.
Zwinak had short TD runs on the next two possessions to push the advantage to 34-0 at the break and Lynch found the end zone on a 15-yard run in the third for a 41-0 lead. Soon after replacing Hackenberg for the first game action of his career, Crook connected with Brent Wilkerson for a TD to cap an 11-play drive late in the third.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Sharpe had four catches for 99 yards while teammate Marken Michel led all players with six grabs and 104 yards. ... Hackenberg finished without a touchdown pass for the second straight game after producing at least one in 13 of his first 14 games as a collegian. ... Massachusetts converted 3-of-13 third-down attempts, compared to 10-of-17 for Penn State.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Massachusetts |
|
Penn State |
Alex Kenney
|
Player |
Akeel Lynch
|
2 |
Attempts |
8 |
22 |
Yards |
81 |
11.0 |
Avg Yards |
10.1 |
0 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Receiving
Massachusetts |
|
Penn State |
Marken Michel
| Player |
Geno Lewis
|
6 |
Receptions |
5 |
104 |
Yards |
82 |
17.3 |
Avg Yards |
16.4 |
0 |
Touchdowns |
0 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Massachusetts
|
266 |
3 |
263 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2.0 |
0 |
Penn State
|
464 |
228 |
236 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
3.0 |
2 |