PSU climbs out of pit against Pitt

Penn State head coach James Franklin expected a response from his players after dodging an upset in its opener against Appalachian State.

He got one. Just a half later than he would have liked.

The Nittany Lions pummeled Pittsburgh, 51-6, in the slop at Heinz Field on Saturday night, scoring the game’s final 45 points and pouring it on in the pouring rain.

“I’m pleased with where we’re at, but we’ve got to take another step,” Franklin said after beating the Panthers decisively for a second straight season. “We have to play better in the first half. Because depending on how things go, you might not be able to come back. You might not be able to recover.”

Penn State (2-0) recovered in time to post the third-largest margin by either team in a series that dates back 125 years. Still, the blowout seemed unlikely for most of the opening two quarters.

Things turned late in the first half when the Nittany Lions stuffed Pitt on a fourth-and-3 at the Penn State 4 to preserve a one-point lead.

Still, Franklin felt there should have been more. Mile Sanders ran for a career-high 118 yards in his return to his hometown but also had about 40 yards chopped off a long gain in the first half thanks to an illegal block behind the play. Sanders then had a 64yard touchdown reception wiped out due to offensive pass interference.

They’re the kind of miscues Franklin wants his team to avoid with Big Ten play looming later this month. The team he saw in the second half looked capable of competing for a conference title. The one in the first half? Not so much. It’s why he couldn’t get too excited even after his defense limited Pitt to just 69 yards in the second half.

“We shouldn’t need to make adjustments. We should be doing that from the beginning,” said Franklin, whose team hosts Kent State next week. “We played really good clutch defense in the first half. As the season goes on, we won’t be able to get away with that with some of our opponents.”

Still, the one-sidedness of the final two quarters was startling.