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45-7, rolling up 574 yards of total offense while holding Eastern Michigan's offense to 183 yards and no points. "It's a resilient football team," coach Bill O'Brien said. "We try to take it one day at a time. We won the day today, but we have to try to win the day tomorrow. Just try to take it one game at a time, try to get better every single day." They left plenty of room for improvement, to be sure, but in improving to 20, the Nittany Lions got their share of big plays on both sides of the ball. On offense, Christian Hackenberg set a freshman record by throwing for 311 yards. Allen Robinson caught seven passes for 129 yards, and running backs Bill Belton and Akeel Lynch finished with 108 yards apiece. On defense, Glenn Carson and DaQuan Jones did at least as much damage as they did a week earlier in fueling Penn State's season-opening victory over Syracuse. Carson had a team-best 10 tackles, helping make up for the absence of fellow linebackers Mike Hull and Ben Kline. Hull was held out after suffering a knee injury against the Orange, while Kline missed the game with an unspecified injury. (O'Brien said afterward they were both OK physically.) Jones was dominant, too, finishing with nine tackles. Carson and Jones spearheaded a Penn State defensive effort that held Eastern Michigan to 61 rushing yards and sacked quarterback Tyler Benz three times. "They're playing very well right now," O'Brien said of his defensive front seven. "There are some veteran guys over there who have played a lot of football for us, which is good. I haven't had the opportunity, obviously, to watch the film yet, but I'm very pleased with our defense." He was less pleased with the offense, which was out of sync at the start of the game. The Nittany Lions weren't able to get a first down on their first two drives, and things went from bad to worse when Hackenberg lost control of a shotgun snap on the first play of Penn State's next possession. Linebacker Hunter Matt grabbed the bouncing ball and ran it into the end zone for a 7-0 Eastern Michigan lead. S e P t e m b e R SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 4:01 EMU Matt, Hunter 11-yard fumble recovery (Mulder, Dylan kick).........................7-0 1:41 PSU Zwinak, Zach 2 -yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 6 plays, 67 yards, TOP 2:14.........................................................................7-7 2ND 14:08 PSU Belton, Bill 5-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 6 plays, 68 yards, TOP 1:02.......................................................................14-7 0:17 PSU Ficken, Sam 39-yard field goal 2:09 PSU Zwinak, Zach 7-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 8 plays, 67 yards, TOP 1:55.......................................................................17-7 3RD 6 plays, 33 yards, TOP 2:27.......................................................................24-7 4TH 12:25 PSU Robinson, Allen 45-yard pass from Hackenberg, Christian (Ficken, Sam kick) 6 plays, 84 yards, TOP 2:29.......................................................................31-7 9:47 PSU Belton, Bill 51-yardrun (Ficken, Sam kick) 4 plays, 83 yards, TOP 1:13.......................................................................38-7 4:26 PSU Lynch, Akeel 18-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 7 plays, 77 yards, TOP 2:14.......................................................................45-7 Was the kid experiencing jitters in his first game in Beaver Stadium? "I don't really think that was the case, Robinson " said. "We missed a few throws, but I don't think it was from him being too anxious. It could happen to anyone. " The coaches clearly weren't too worried. They stuck with Hackenberg – Tyler Ferguson didn't get any first-half snaps as he did against Syracuse a week earlier – and their faith was rewarded, as Penn State responded to Eastern Michigan's defensive touchdown with 45 unanswered points. The Lions tied the score late in the first quarter on a 2-yard Zach Zwinak touchdown run, which followed a 43-yard pass completion to Robinson. They went ahead on a 5-yard run by Belton in the second quarter, and Sam Ficken added a 39-yard field goal – his school-record 14th consecutive make – just before halftime. Whatever upset hopes the Eagles (1-1) were still entertaining at that point evaporated in the third quarter when Penn State climbed out of a third-and-24 hole with a 20-yard run by Zwinak and a 5yard completion to Brandon Felder on fourth-and-4. Zwinak plunged into the end zone on the next play for a 5-yard touchdown. Said Eastern Michigan coach Ron English, "I think that was a backbreaker for our kids. " 7 , 2 0 1 3 2 Penn State went on to score on a 45yard completion to Robinson and runs of 51 and 18 yards by Belton and Lynch, respectively. But while the Lions' 21-point fourthquarter outburst made for a lopsided final score, the first three quarters were more competitive, and the game produced some worrisome numbers. Most worrisome of all was Penn State's 1-for10 third-down conversion rate. The Lions have now converted only 2 of 26 third-down attempts this season, a rate that they will certainly need to improve in order to stay undefeated for much longer. Indeed, Central Florida appears entirely capable of bringing the joyride to an abrupt end. The Knights improved to 2-0 on Friday night with a 38-0 victory over Florida International, and when they visit Beaver Stadium next Saturday night, O'Brien will be looking for a more sustained effort from his offense. "We have got to do better," he said. "I think we have to execute better. We have to keep spending time on it. We need to adjust quicker to what [opponents] are doing. I thought Eastern Michigan came out with a little bit of a different look and I give credit to them. We have to do better, but again, we will improve. We scored 45 points today, and that is pretty good. " b l u e w h i t e o n l i n e . c o m

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