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THREE'S A CROWD GAME GRADES Lions' RB trio shares workload in romp over Kent State LORI  SHONTZ | blue white contRibutoR Don't get Zach Zwinak wrong – he'll take the three touchdowns. Yet he feels a little funny about them. Two of them, at least. Zwinak's first touchdown, a 2-yard run, came at the end of a second-quarter drive in which Bill Belton rushed for 42 yards. His second touchdown, a 1-yarder, came after Belton gained 33 yards on a third-quarter drive. "Yeah, they should be his, he said. "He " got down there." But that's the way it goes in Penn State's offense, which rotates Zwinak, Belton and redshirt freshman Akeel Lynch in such a way that no one's really the featured back. And which is just the way Bill O'Brien likes it. He had similar situations at Georgia Tech, Maryland and even with the New England Patriots. "I believe in using a lot of backs, I really do, O'Brien said. "I know that some teams " want to use one back, and sometimes we do, we try to go with the hot back. But we think all three of those guys are good football players, they're practicing well, it's a competitive spot. All three deserve to play, so we rotate them in there. " Zwinak starts. Belton gets the second rotation. Lynch tends to appear in the second half. On Saturday, he barely saw action until the third quarter, but he ended up with the most yards (123). "I'm used to it now," Lynch said. "I understood that when I got to college, I wasn't going to be the guy right away, or I was going to rotate. It helps us win, and that's the most important thing." Zwinak scored three touchdowns for the second consecutive game, but he finished with the fewest yards among the three backs (65). Belton, who gained 90 yards, fumbled at the 1-yard line in the third quarter as he was sticking the ball out, trying to break the plane of the goal line. The fumble was later overturned on review, and S e P t e m b e R Penn State got the ball at the 1. Even so, Belton said, "Coach O'Brien gave me an earful for that, so I won't be doing that ever again. " Lynch picked up 45 yards on a fourthquarter drive but fumbled deep in Kent State territory, and that's how Zwinak got his third touchdown; he took it the final 11 yards into the end zone. "You've got to move forward from that, taking the coaching point, Lynch said. " Zwinak is the guy who never goes down on first contact, and he's got deceptive speed once he gets into the open field. Belton, who began his Penn State career as a wide receiver, is the shiftier runner. Lynch has both power and speed, and he's the most likely – by far – to be the guy laughing and joking with the media after the game. "When you rotate backs like that, we all remain fresh, Belton said. "That's an ad" vantage." The Nittany Lions needed the running game Saturday, when the passing game wasn't clicking. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg looked like a freshman, completing only 13 of 35 passes for 176 yards, and although O'Brien kept calling the fade to Allen Robinson, the junior receiver finished with only three catches for 43 yards. "I'm sure just as I want a few play calls back," O'Brien said, "he wants a few throws back. " That put the burden on the running backs, and all three responded – even if only one of them scored by rushing the ball. During the game, Lynch said, no one cares as long as the touchdowns lead to a team victory. The individual glory doesn't matter. In the film room, however, it's a different story. "It's probably going to come up," he said, laughing. "But as long as we win, we really don't care. " 2 1 , 2 0 1 3 8 QUARTERBACKS Christian Hackenberg struggled more than in previous games, completing 13 of 35 for 176 yards. GRADE C RUNNING BACKS Zach Zwinak, Bill Belton and Akeel Lynch all had their moments, averaging 6.6 yards between the three of them. GRADE A RECEIVERS Kent State went into the game looking to slow down Allen Robinson, and did a pretty good job of it. GRADE C OFFENSIVE LINE These guys got plenty of push in the second half. Penn State's 287 yards rushing were a season-high. GRADE A DEFENSIVE LINE Penn State made some plays in the backfield, keeping the heat on Colin Reardon and holding Kent State to 56 GRADE A rushing yards. LINEBACKERS For the second time in three weeks, Mike Hull was forced to sit out. Here's hoping he's ready for the Big Ten season, because the linebacker corps will certainly need him more than it did vs. GRADE A Kent State. DEFENSIVE BACKS The Lions allowed Kent State to complete drive-extending thirddown passes of 7, 8 and 14 yards in the first half, but tightened up as the game went on. Ryan Keiser had an interception, and nearly came up with another. GRADE B SPECIAL TEAMS Sam Ficken's 54-yard field goal bumps these guys up a full letter GRADE A grade. Impressive stuff. COACHES You can understand why the staff would want to give Hackenberg a chance to throw. But you also get the feeling Penn State could have put this game away much earlier if it had run the ball GRADE B more frequently. CROWD There was a lot of chuckling in the press box when the official attendance – 92,371 – was announced. The actual attendance had to be way lower, but it's pretty hard to find fault with all those people who voluntarily subjected themselves to a monsoon just for the chance to cheer on their team. GRADE B+ b l u e w h i t e o n l i n e . c o m

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