Penn State football returned to action for its annual Blue-White Game on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium. The White Team dominated the Blue Team 27-0 in a one-sided affair.
The traditional spring game format returned for the second year in a row.
Drew Allar had a touchdown pass and Quinton Martin Jr. rushed for a pair of touchdowns. Andrew Rappleyea hauled in Allar’s 30-yard touchdown pass late in the game to seal the deal on Blue’s victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Beau Pribula tossed a pass to Joey Schlaffer to begin the Blue Team’s first drive, but he lost two yards. The redshirt sophomore QB scrambled on 3rd-and-12, but it was too little too late.
Drew Allar and the White Team started on their own 42-yard line. The snap from Nick Dawkins was muffed, but White retained possession. Allar fired a 14-yard pass to Liam Clifford on third-and-long, and barely overthrew Kaden Saunders on a deep ball two plays later. Cam Wallace ripped a 13-yard gain, and then another brief run to bring up 3rd-and-6 at Blue’s 30-yard line. Saunders then dropped a pass on fourth down to end the drive.
Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming got involved with a five-yard reception. Two plays later, Pribula’s pass was intercepted by Zakee Wheatley by Blue’s sideline at the 42-yard line.
Allar tossed a 20-yard dime to Omari Evans to end the first quarter. Martin rushed for eight yards, and Allar completed another pass to Trey Wallace for 18 yards. Then, from the nine-yard line, Martin ran it into the end zone to give White the lead, with redshirt freshman Ryan Barker’s extra point making it 7-0 with 9:49 left in the half.
Ethan Grunkemeyer entered for the Blue Team. He completed a two-yard pass to Anthony Ivey, but missed his next attempt to end the drive.
Grunkemeyer remained in the game after White punted. The true freshman from Lewis Center, Ohio, completed two out of three pass attempts, although Blue was also forced to punt.
Allar connected with Cam Wallace for a 13-yard pass and then tossed a 30-yard dot to Saunders to put the ball at the 11-yard line. Cam Wallace dropped a pass in the end zone, and AJ Harris locked down Malik McClain to prevent a touchdown. Barker kicked a 28-yard field goal to give White a 10-0 lead to end the first half.
Second Half
Allar was sacked and threw an incomplete pass to open the second half. Pribula, on the other hand, scrambled for a 17-yard play on the ensuing drive, but Blue ultimately turned it over on downs.
Khalil Dinkins got involved with a 20-yard reception from Allar. Allar fired a nine-yard pass to Clifford three plays later to put the ball at Blue’s 24-yard line to end the third quarter. Barker kicked another field goal to give White a 13-0 lead to begin the fourth quarter.
Amin Vanover made an interception to give White possession almost instantly. Tyler Holzworth rushed for eight yards and Pribula completed a five-yard pass to put White at Blue’s 11-yard line. Martin scored his second touchdown of the day four plays later to take a 20-0 lead.
After a three-and-out for Blue, White didn’t look much better. Allar was sacked for a nine-yard loss to begin the drive, although he responded with a 14-yard completion to Trey Wallace. However, it was too little too late.
Blue had a second consecutive three-and-out. When White took over, Allar fired a 20-yard pass to Trey Wallace on fourth down to extend its drive. Then, he fired a 30-yard pass to Rappleyea to take a 27-0 lead and effectively end the game.
Takeaways
- Allar’s outing was a mixed bag. He only completed 15 of 32 pass attempts, but he threw for 200 yards and a touchdown. Although the 200 yards may seem small, it’s a decent showing in a quick spring game. It’ll be interesting to see how he progresses under Andy Kotelnicki for the rest of the offseason.
- Martin had an impressive day as well. The true freshman rushed for two touchdowns and thus had a sizeable impact on the game, which could be a promising sign for Penn State’s running back depth.
- Barker may have established himself as the early favorite for the starting kicker job. He made every field goal and extra point in the game, so that’s something worth following until the start of the regular season.
What’s Next?
Penn State is scheduled to open the regular season at West Virginia on Saturday, Aug. 31. The kickoff time and TV channel haven’t been announced yet.
