Blue White Illustrated

S E P T E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 3 Pitt last week, and against Kent State he had a 95-yard TD to Daniel George. It was the longest touchdown pass in school history, and it helped the Nittany Lions average a rather robust 26.4 yards per catch vs. the Golden Flashes. "The guy refuses to do anything but throw touchdown passes," Franklin said. "Pretty cool for him." THE BAD • Penalties! The Lions had not one, not two, but three touchdowns called back against Kent State. It began with a holding call on Michal Menet that negated a long scoring pass to Hamler on Penn State's first possession of the game. Kent State returned the favor moments later, committing a roughing-the-punter penalty to revive the PSU drive, and the end result was the same: a long touchdown pass, this time to DeAndre Thompkins. But the Lions had another score wiped out in the sec- ond quarter when Pat Freiermuth was called for pass interference on a Juwan Johnson catch. And in the third quarter, a holding call on C.J. Thorpe erased a 66- yard TD pass to Cam Sullivan-Brown. It was the second week in a row in which the Nittany Lions had some of their biggest plays called back. At Pitt, two of Sanders' best runs were erased by blocking fouls on wide receivers. "There are times when we look like a Super Bowl team, flashes of really good things," Franklin said. "And there are other times when we're hurting our- selves, and the opponent had nothing to do with it. We can't do that. We've got to be more consistent in everything we do." The nine penalties that Penn State committed on Saturday may not have hurt them, especially since Kent State was flagged 10 times. But this is an issue that needs to be cleaned up, and yester- day wouldn't be too soon. • More dropped passes. Brandon Polk let a potential first down slip through his hands in the first quarter, and Jonathan Holland mishandled a short pass a few minutes later. Obviously, those drops didn't have much affect on the final score, but the Lions' upcoming games are not going to be nearly as lopsided as this one was. As with the penalties, this is one of those problems that doesn't hurt you until it hurts you. "We have shown that we can be big- time players," Franklin said. "We just need to be more consistent." • For the second time this season, the Nittany Lions got caught off-guard by an onside kick. LOOKING AHEAD The Big Ten season begins next week, and it begins in an unconventional way, with a Friday night game at Illinois. The 9 p.m. kickoff time is unusual, and the opponent and venue are rela- tively unfamiliar, too. Penn State hasn't faced the Illini since October 2015, and it hasn't visited Champaign since November 2014, a 16-14 loss in Franklin's first season as head coach. Do those factors make this a potential trap game, espe- cially with Ohio State and Michigan State waiting on the other side? Maybe so. But as far as Franklin is concerned, every game is a potential trap game, so while the Lions will have to ad- just their practice schedule due to the short week, they undoubtedly will ap- proach the Illini the same way they ap- proach every opponent: as the only other team in the universe that matters during game week. A NEW WAY TO ACCESS POSTGAME COVERAGE Starting this season, Blue White Il- lustrated's postgame coverage will be available via bwi.rivals.com. All of our game stories, including the story above on Saturday's thrashing of Kent State, can now be accessed from the website. The change in format allows us to bring readers more gameday cover- age than ever before: game recaps, player features, notebooks, high- lights and lowlights, game grades and recruiting news. To find BWI's postgame coverage, visit the links below: HIGHLIGHTS AND LOWLIGHTS GAME GRADES FEATURE STORIES STATISTICS Yetur Gross- Matos tracks down Kent State quarter- back Woody Barrett. The Lions finished with seven sacks. Photo by Steve Manuel

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