No. 10 Penn State football (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) won its third straight game to open the season Saturday night, beating No. 22 Auburn (2-1) 28-20 in the White Out at Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions fell behind 3-0 early on, but they were able to get it going thanks to some offensive creativity and solid defensive play. Despite a late push from Auburn, James Franklin’s squad was able to hold on and advance to 3-0 on the season after a thrilling game.
Quarterback Sean Clifford and wide receiver Jahan Dotson had outstanding nights, with Clifford completing 28 of 32 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns and Dotson hauling in 10 catches for 78 yards and a score.
With Saturday’s win, Penn State now owns a 7-6 record in full-stadium White Out games. It was Penn State’s first win against an SEC team since the Nittany Lions defeated LSU in the 2010 Capital One Bowl.
How It Happened
Auburn won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half, giving Sean Clifford and Co. the ball to start the game. The Nittany Lions got the ball rolling when Clifford connected with KeAndre Lambert-Smith on third down to move the chains.
The drive stalled out at the Auburn 44 when a fourth and 1 quarterback sneak by Sean Clifford came up short., which gave the ball to Bo Nix and Auburn’s offense.
Tank Bigsby immediately gashed Penn State’s defense for an 18-yard gain to set up Auburn at Penn State’s 38-yard line. However, Brent Pry’s defense held strong and forced an Anders Carlson 45-yard field attempt. He drilled it to give Auburn a 3-0 lead with 9:37 left in the quarter.
After the two teams exchanged punts, Penn State’s offense came out buzzing. Clifford looked sharp on the drive, completing four passes for 73 yards, including passes of 23 and 36 yards down the middle to tight ends Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson, respectively. The drive concluded when Clifford found Jahan Dotson for a four-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone to put the Nittany Lions up 7-3 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.
The second quarter started with Auburn facing a third down, which it converted to move the ball into Penn State’s territory. Later in the drive, Nix connected with Kobe Hudson for 37 yards on third down to bring the Tigers down to the 13-yard line. Three plays later, Bigsby punched it in from four yards out to put Auburn ahead 10-7 with 12:28 left in the half.
On the ensuing Penn State drive, the refs appeared to lose track of what down it was after a questionable intentional grounding call, which bizarrely led to Penn State punting on what was actually third down.
Following an Auburn punt, Dotson made an impressive catch for a 22-yard gain.
Two plays later Dotson took a backward pass from Clifford and tossed a dump pass of his own to tight end Tyler Warren for a 22-yard completion to the Auburn 30. Dotson and Parker Washington hauled in a pair of Clifford passes to get the Nittany Lions to the Tiger 15.
On third and 2 from the Auburn 5, Noah Cain spun his way down to the 1. Cain was stuffed on the next play, but on second and goal, Clifford faked a hand off and tossed to a wide open Brenton Strange for a 2-yard touchdown pass to give Penn State a 14-10 lead with 1:23 left in the half.
Auburn went three and out on its next drive, giving the ball back to Penn State with 47 seconds remaining in the half. Sean Clifford’s 20-yard scramble and a 12-yard completion to Parker Washington had the Nittany Lions moving. But Clifford heaved a pass toward the end zone that was picked off by Auburn’s Roger McCreary at the Tiger 3. The Tigers took a knee to run out the remaining 16 seconds and Penn State took a 14-10 lead into the half.
The Nittany Lions started the second half with a bang. On the first play of Auburn’s drive, Kobe Hudson fumbled the ball behind the line of scrimmage and it was recovered by Penn State’s Derrick Tangelo at the Tigers’ 20-yard line.
After a 17-yard completion to Dotson on the first play of the drive, Warren took a direct snap and leaped over his offensive line into the end zone from two yards out to put Penn State up 21-10 with 13:06 left in the quarter.
To their credit, the Tigers didn’t go away easily, bouncing back with a methodical 15-play, 75 yard drive that saw Auburn winning the battle at the line of scrimmage and patiently grinding it out on the ground over the course of 7:14.
Bigsby carried the ball eight times for 38 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown to narrow Penn State’s lead to 21-17 with 5:52 left in the third
On Penn State’s next drive, Clifford continued his efficient game by completing all five of his passes. However, on fourth and 1, Penn State faked a punt and snapped the ball to defensive lineman PJ Mustipher, who appeared to be pushed over the line to gain before the whistle blew but was ruled half a yard short.
Auburn continued its offensive momentum with an effective ground game on the next drive. The third quarter ended with Auburn facing a 4th and 1 from Penn State’s 26-yard line. Carlson hit a 43-yard field goal to cut Penn State’s lead to 21-20 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Baylor transfer running back John Lovett made an impact on the next drive, as he caught a screen pass and took it for 18 yards down to Auburn’s 43-yard line.
Clifford once again found Strange open down the middle for a 40 yard gain to the Auburn 3. A 2-yard pass to Parker Washington and a targeting call on the Tigers that resulted in the ejection of linebacker Zakoby McClain gave the Nittany Lions first and goal inside the 1.
Cain lost a yard on first down and a repeated attempt at the trick play with Warren was unsuccessful this time around, with Auburn taking down Warren for a loss to the 4.
Finally, on third down, Cain was able to get it done. He cut back and cruised in for a 4-yard score and Penn State led 28-20 with 10:48 left in the game.
After the two teams each punted, Auburn drove down deep into Penn State’s territory. Facing a fourth and 2 from the 2-yard line, Nix tried a fade pass to Kobe Hudson, who was well covered by safety Jaquan Brisker, and the pass fell incomplete. Penn State took over on its own 2.
Backed up inside its own 1 after a false start and no gain on a Cain carry, Penn State got some breathing room with a pass-interference call against Auburn.
The Nittany Lions couldn’t make much else happen on offense but forced Auburn to burn its final timeout. Stout’s 49-yard punt put Auburn at its own 38 with 38 seconds left to play.
Converting two third downs, Auburn got to the Penn State 26, but Nix’s final throw to the end zone as time expired was broken up by Brisker to seal Penn State’s 28-20 White Out victory.
Takeaways
- No surprise, but Beaver Stadium was LOUD under White Out conditions Saturday night, with 109,958 fans in the building giving the Nittany Lions some extra energy all game long. The crowd was the 10th-largest in Beaver Stadium history. It may be cliché, but there’s really nothing like a White Out in Happy Valley.
- Jahan Dotson is an incredible football player. He truly does it all, as he caught 10 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. Additionally, he threw a dime (!!) to Tyler Warren for a 22-yard gain on a trick play. If that wasn’t enough, he had a nice 16-yard punt return, too.
- Mike Yurcich might be a mastermind. Penn State’s offense opened up its bag of tricks in this one, catching the Tigers’ defense off guard multiple times. From Jahan Dotson’s pass to Tyler Warren’s direct snap touchdown, Yurcich got creative and gave Auburn’s defense a different look, which resulted in a lot of success for Penn State’s offense. Add that to under center formations and fullback looks, and you have a much different looking offense than in past years. Penn State had 392 yards on the day, with 302 coming through the air.
- Have a day, Sean Clifford. Aside an interception at the end of the first half, the signal-caller played near-perfect football all game long. He completed 88% of his passes, totaled 280 passing yards, and threw two touchdowns. Coming into the game, we knew Clifford could be one of the deciding factors, and his stellar play led the Nittany Lions to victory Saturday night.
What’s Next
Penn State will host Villanova at noon next Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and the Fox Sports app.
StateCollege.com editor Geoff Rushton contributed to this story.
