Drew Allar passed for a touchdown and ran for another, and No. 7 Penn State cruised to a 27-11 win over visiting UCLA on Saturday in State College, Pa.
The Nittany Lions (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten Conference) started slow offensively for the second consecutive week of league play. But after almost 25 minutes of a scoreless stalemate, Allar broke through with a goal-line touchdown carry in the second quarter.
His score capped a 16-play, 82-yard drive that consumed 8:36. Penn State tacked on another touchdown just before halftime. Allar connected with Tyler Warren on a 5-yard TD catch with 20 seconds on the clock.
The Nittany Lions’ score answered Mateen Bhaghani’s 25-yard field goal that got UCLA (1-4, 0-3) on the board with a drive of eight plays and 75 yards in 2:31.
The floodgates opened from there. Ryan Barker’s field goals of 25 and 40 yards bookended a goal-line touchdown carry from Kaytron Allen to cap a 58-yard drive.
Allen’s 78 yards paced Penn State on the ground, though the rest of the Nittany Lions combined for just seven rushing yards. Allar’s 237 yards on 17-of-24 passing buoyed the offense.
He completed three straight passes of 24, 12 and 25 yards on the pivotal touchdown drive before intermission, hitting three different receivers: Liam Clifford, Julian Fleming and Harrison Wallace.
Clifford caught three passes for 107 yards in the win.
Penn State’s defense, meanwhile, held UCLA to just 260 yards of offense. Nittany Lion tacklers got into the backfield for seven hits for loss, contributing to Penn State limiting UCLA to 93 yards on 29 carries, a 3.2 average.
The Bruins did not cross into Nittany Lions territory on their first three possessions of the second half. Their fourth drive stalled on downs in the red zone.
UCLA quarterback Justyn Martin, making his first college start in place of an injured Ethan Garbers, went 22-of-30 passing for 167 yards and threw a 1-yard touchdown to Logan Loya in the final 16 seconds.
T.J. Harden caught five passes for 59 yards. Keegan Jones led the Bruins with 38 yards rushing on five carries, with Jalen Berger matching that total on nine attempts.
–Field Level Media