By: Tyler Millen, GoPSUSports.com
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State Football is back in action - after a week hiatus - and is set to return to Beaver Stadium to host its second straight MAC opponent. Kent State enters at 0-3 after facing another top-10 opponent in Tennessee on Sept. 14, while the Nittany Lions stand at 2-0.
Penn State holds a 6-0 record against its border state foe with the last matchup coming in Happy Valley in 2018. The Nittany Lions posted the second most single-game yards in the James Franklin era with 643 in the 63-10 win.
The Nittany Lions also posted the longest play in program history in the most recent contest against Kent State as then-freshman quarterback Sean Clifford connected with wideout Daniel George for a 95-yard touchdown pass.
Penn State has replicated that explosive dynamic in its offense during the opening two games of the year. The blue and white lead the nation in the percentage of passing plays of 15 yards or more at 34.21% and place fifth in big play percentage at 22.22%.
Junior quarterback Drew Allar has captained the Nittany Lions offense and sits sixth nationally in passing efficiency. Junior running back Nick Singleton is second in the country in yards per carry at 8.96 and has 158 all-purpose yards per game. Senior tight end Tyler Warren posted 146 receiving yards against Bowling Green which set a new Penn State tight end record in a single game
The Nittany Lions offense looks to make improvements on third down despite placing 22nd nationally in rushing offense with 228 yards per game and fourth in yards per completion with 17.56. It has become an emphasis for Franklin who discussed the balance of generated stops on defense and executing offensively in third down situations.
“Getting off the field on defense and then being able to sustain drives on offense,” Franklin said on what he wants to see improved against Kent State. “I want to create more touches on offense for more players and more guys. It's difficult to do that when you are not extending drives. The explosiveness has been great on offense, but we need to be more efficient and specifically on third down too.”
Head coach Kenni Burns is in his second year leading the Golden Flashes and will guide his team into their third game against a Power Four opponent. Burns has a strong familiarity of Penn State and the Big Ten after spending four seasons with P.J. Fleck at Minnesota.
The Golden Flashes are quarterbacked by junior Devin Kargman who’s thrown for 432 yards and three touchdowns through three games. He’s relied heavily on wide receiver Luke Floriea, who leads Kent State with 209 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Junior linebacker Rocco Nicholl paced the Golden Flash with 10 tackles in their last outing against Tennessee and has a team-high 24 tackles. Floriea has also spearheaded the efforts on special teams as the kick and punt returner.
Floriea has averaged 21 yards on four kickoff tries and averaged 29 yards per attempt on punt returns which places him seventh in the country in punt return average. The capability to generate big plays on special teams is an emphasis for Franklin who said his group must embrace the “challenge.”
“They do a nice job there, and really a lot of it deals with the receiver that I was talking about us having respect for, punt return, kick returner, No. 0, Luke Floriea,” Franklin said. “We're excited about that challenge. They have our attention. There's no doubt about it.”