Penn State Football took on the Maryland Terrapins Saturday on the road, and won in dominating fashion 51-15.

It was a tune-up before Penn State takes on the Michigan Wolverines next Saturday, back inside Beaver Stadium, with a chance to revive its College Football Playoff chances.

The Nittany Lions used strong defense and a solid running game, and Drew Allar was efficient from opening whistle until he was lifted in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps even more importantly for Penn State Football, Dante Cephas emerged as a legitimate difference-maker at wide receiver.

Cephas caught six passes for 53 yards with a pair of touchdowns, finally giving Allar a secondary option besides KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

Penn State could do no wrong against Maryland, and now its biggest game of the season looms large.

3 key Penn State Football takeaways from Saturday’s win

Rushing Attack

The Nittany Lions ran for 158 yards on the ground.

Kaytron Allen led their rushing attack with 91 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. Allar added 39 yards for Penn State. The Nittany Lions rely on a solid running game, which showed against Maryland on Saturday.

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Defense

Penn State’s defense showed up in a big way Saturday.

Manny Diaz‘s unit held the Terrapins to negative-49 yards rushing; that is total domination.

The Lions sacked Maryland’s quarterback Taulia Tagoailoa six times, as six different players got sacks.

Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas both intercepted passes for the Nittany Lions. Penn State was very physical on defense Saturday against Maryland.

Drew Allar

Drew Allar completed 24-of-34 passes for 240 yards and tossed four touchdown passes with no
interceptions.

It was an excellent game by Allar.

The sophomore signal caller threw to eight different receivers, with KeAndre Lambert Smith leading the way with eight catches for 95 yards. Meanwhile, Cephas had six catches for 53 yards and two touchdowns, in his strongest performance of the season.

Allar did an excellent job getting the ball to the tight ends, as well.

Tyler Warren and Theo Johnson combined for eight catches. As we advance to beat Michigan, Allar must push the ball down the field.

Next Saturday, Michigan will most likely sit on the Penn State short passing attack.

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