2025 PSU vs. Nevada

August 30, 3:30pm EDT, Beaver Stadium, CBS-TV

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#2/3 PSU 46 Nevada 11

Game Flow & Summary

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Game One—Season & Home Opener

First Half

  • 1st quarter—Gabe Nwosu opening kick for PSU to the Nevada 5 ends in fair catch giving Wolf Pack the ball at their own 25, 1st and 10

  • Nevada and QB Chubba Purdy move the ball into PSU territory—7 plays takes it to the PSU 41-yard line for a 1st down

  • KEY PLAY—8th play of Nevada opening drive, 1st and 10 at the PSU 41, Ky Woods of Nevada gains 2 yards to the 39 where Dani Denni-Sutton DE punches ball out of his hands—After a scramble where several players had chance to recover, the ball is finally recovered by AJ Harris CB at the PSU 31-yard line

  • PSU first possession of game begins at 9:46 of the 1st period, 1st and 10 at the 31—The drive will consume 13 plays and 69 yards highlighted by the first two Drew Allar QB pass completions to new wide receiver Kyron Hudson and a 13-yard end around run by new receiver, Trebor Pena

  • PSU first drive ends with a touchdown at the 3:05 mark of the 1st quarter—1st and goal at the Nevada 1, Nick Singleton RB rushes the middle, spins and backs into the endzone for what should be an obvious TD, but the refs rule he was stopped short of the goal line triggering a replay review which easily overturns the incorrect call on the field—This is Singleton’s 33rd career rushing TD & 42nd career all-purpose TD—Ryan Barker PAT makes it 7-0 Penn State

  • Nevada’s second possession of the 1st period is brief—1st and 10 at the 25 (following the touchback on the kick), Chubba Purdy is under pressure from Xavier Gilliam DT—Purdy forces the pass, it’s tipped near line of scrimmage and Zane Durant DT makes a nice catch on a tough ball at the 20-yard line, and he returns the INT to the Nevada 6-yard line—This is Durant’s first career INT

  • PSU second drive in first period ends in some disappointment—A 2-yard gain on Allar’s first completion to Trebor Pena and a 3-yard run by Kaytron Allen has the ball at the Nevada 1 for 3rd and goal—But, the snap can’t be handled by Allar in the shotgun, and he dives on the ball for 9-yard loss just past the 10 yard line—Ryan Barker connects on a 28-yard field goal and PSU leads 10-0 with 1:41 to go in the period—The 1st quarter ends with PSU leading 10-0

  • 2nd quarter—Following a Nevada punt, PSU begins its 3rd drive of the game at its 28-yard line—PSU will move 72 yards in 8 plays highlighted by Allar completions of 14 and 12 yards to Trebor Pena—On 1st and 10 at the Nevada 12-yard line, Kaytron Allen RB takes the ball on the sweep left and heads for the corner of the endzone—As Allen dives, a falling defender knocks over the pylon making it difficult to see if Kaytron broke the plane, but the refs signal touchdown—A replay review confirms the call on the field of a TD—Kaytron Allen’s 25th career TD run—Ryan Barker’s PAT makes it 17-0 PSU with 10:02 remaining in the half

  • Nevada responds with its lone score of the first half—The Wolf Pack move to the PSU 9-yard line on 6 plays—PSU’s defense stiffens and a TFL by Kolin Dinkins and a sack by Dom DeLuca leaves Nevada looking at 4th and goal from the 11, and they end the shutout bid with a 28-yard field goal—PSU leads 17-3 with 4:52 to go in the half

  • On the ensuing kick, King Mack S makes his PSU debut as a returner, and he delivers big—Mack takes the ball at the PSU 9-yard line, gets some critical blocking help from Kyron Hudson, cuts to left and explodes for 73 yards, leaping over one tackler along the way, he’s finally brought down at the Nevada 18—A website that tracks player speeds (Reel Analytics) said that Mack was running 20.1 MPH at full speed on this return—Note: The CBS commentators were caught off guard by King Mack returning this kick; initially ID’ing him as fellow #16 Khalil Dinkins before getting it half right by calling him “Mack King”

  • This drive would end in a level of disappointment just like the one following the Durant INT—A Singleton run and screen pass reception net a four-yard loss to the 22—On 3rd and 14, Allar gets 11 yards on the keeper, but is well short of the first down requiring Ryan Barker’s second 28-yard field goal of the game—PSU leads 20-3 with 2:22 left on the clock

  • PSU’s defense forces a 3 and out (highlighted by a Ty Blanding TFL—loss of 5 yards)—the punt gives the Lions the ball at their own 36-yard line with 1:38 to go

  • PSU “2-minute drill” on their final possession of the first half—PSU drives 64 yards on 8 plays in just 1:15 for the score with Drew Allar completing 6 of 8 passes on the drive including a clutch 4th and 2 pass to Devonte Ross for 4 yards to keep it alive at the Nevada 31—And on 1st and 10 following the Ross reception, Allar capped it with a 31-yard TD strike to Kyron Hudson—Allar gave a pro-level performance on this play from the shotgun, sensing pressure, moving to his left and throwing slightly off-balance to Kyron Hudson who made a diving grab at the left side of the endzone with 23 seconds left—This was Drew Allar’s 54th career TD pass—The Ryan Barker PAT kick would make it 27-3 PSU

  • In the first half, Allar was 14 of 17 for 133 yards, 1 TD, with 107 of those yards coming in the second period—Kyron Hudson collected 75 yards receiving in the half along with the TD catch and PSU leads Nevada 27-3 at the break

  • PSU scored on all 5 first half possessions alternating 3 TDs (2 rush/1 pass) with 2 FGs for 27 points

Second Half

  • 3rd Quarter—PSU receives opening kick as King Mack takes the ball at the 10 yard line and brings it out to the 25—Mack returned 2 kicks in this game for 88 yards

  • PSU first drive of the second half covers 60 yards in 9 plays (5 passes) highlighted by Allar completions of 18 and 13 yards to Trebor Pena, and a highlight reel tiptoe catch at the left sidelines by Kyron Hudson for a 14-yard gain to the Nevada 20 for a 1st down—The pass to Hudson was confirmed by replay review as the tip of his shoe kicked up some dirt as he gained control of the catch before stepping out of bounds

  • The opening drive of the third period stalls 3 plays later at the Nevada 15 resulting in a 4th down and 5 to go—Ryan Barker caps it with a 32-yard field goal (his third of the game) as PSU extends its lead to 30-3 with 9:23 to go in the quarter

  • Nevada’s first possession of the second half lasts only 3 plays and ends badly on a 1st and 10 play from its own 27 as Herschel Turner RB is stripped of the ball 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage by Dani Dennis-Sutton DE (his second forced fumble of the game) and Zakee Wheatley S recovers at the Nevada 16-yard line (his third career fumble recovery & 10th career takeaway)

  • PSU would score on its seventh straight possession in this game beginning with an Allar pass to Pena for 15 yards (out of bounds at the 1) followed by Nick Singleton’s 1 yard run for the touchdown (Singleton’s 2nd of the game & his 34th career rushing TD—5th on the PSU all-time list)—PSU inexplicably attempted a 2-point conversion and a so-called pass attempt by third-string QB Jaxon Smolik was blown-up by Nevada—PSU leads 36-3 with 7:15 to go in the third period

  • Nevada’s second possession of the half lasted only 3 plays and was highlighted by sacks courtesy of Dejuan Lane S & Dani Dennis-Sutton DE forcing the Wolf Pack to punt after a net 10 yards in losses

  • PSU’s 8th possession of the game began at the Nevada 45 and would stall 4 plays later at the 22—Ryan Barker kicks his 4th and longest field goal of the game from 39 yards out (his 2nd career 4 FG game—first since 2024 at USC) for a 39-3 PSU lead with 3:21 to go in third period—PSU leads 39-3 after 3 quarters

  • Nevada’s next drive carries into the 4th quarter and covers 69 yards on 10 plays before ending in a turnover on downs at the Penn State 6-yard line—Nevada’s first 3 plays of the fourth were incomplete passes that ended the drive

  • PSU’s 9th possession of the game began at the 6-yard line and saw back-up QB Ethan Grunkemeyer enter the game (his first action since the CFP win vs. SMU in 2024)—Cam Wallace RB also entered the game for his first action since he suffered broken bones in both legs in week three of the 2024 season vs. Kent State (the severity of Wallace’s injury was not officially revealed until 5 days after the Nevada game by James Franklin)—Corey Smith RB would also play in this series which would cover 94 yards on 15 plays eating up over 7 minutes of clock

  • Cam Wallace made his presence known immediately with a 5-yard run on first down followed by a 12-yard catch on second down—The pass reception was highlight-reel stuff from Wallace as he took-in the ball on the right flank around the 7-yard line and vaulted over a defender on his way to the 23—The vault was magnified by the fact that Wallace wears jersey #26 and his leap looked remarkably similar to the one by then-#26 Saquon Barkley in 2017 victory at Iowa

  • Grunkemeyer then combined for a key play with TE Andrew Rappleyea who also missed virtually all of last season (injured in the 2024 opener at West Virginia)—Grunk was flushed from the pocket on third and 7 from the 26, but comfortably found Rappleyea wide open on the 25 and Rappleyea took it 26 yards to the Nevada 48 (although an illegal blocking penalty moved the ball back 10 yards to the PSU 42)

  • Grunkemeyer kept the drive moving with passes to Khalil Dinkins and Tyseer Denmark mixed with the running of Wallace and Smith—On 3rd and goal at the Nevada 6, Grunk did the job himself running left for the pylon and the touchdown (first TD of his PSU career)—Freshman kicker Matthew Parker made his PSU debut with the PAT for the 46-3 PSU lead with 7:37 to go in the game—PSU scored on all 9 possessions to this point

  • PSU’s last two possessions were a turnover on downs and the clock killer at the end of the game—On its last 2 possessions, Nevada punted and then finally drove 50 yards for a garbage-time TD pass by its backup QB against the PSU third and fourth stringers plus a 2-point conversion—FINAL SCORE PENN STATE WINS 46-11 to open season 1-0

  • PSU scored on its first 9 possessions of the game (and the season) alternating 5 TDs (4 rushing) with 4 FGs for the first time since at least 1952—The late TD by Nevada and the botched 2-point try prevented PSU from covering the hefty 43.5-point spread