UNIVERSITY PARK — By all accounts it was an encouraging start for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team in their 46-11 win over Nevada on Saturday, Aug. 30, but now the Lions will turn their attention to its Week 2 opponent, Florida International.
FIU, which is a member of Conference USA, is coming off a 4-8 season in 2024, but the team has a new coach in Willie Simmons, along with a new attitude and a fresh start.
That fresh start was a 42-9 runaway victory over Bethune-Cookman on Friday night in Miami.
The Lions didn’t do badly either in their start to the 2025 season against the Wolf Pack.
They were never threatened by Nevada after two quick takeaways led to an early 10-point lead and then 17 second-quarter points put them ahead 27-3 at halftime.
The Lions kept it up in the second half until quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer’s six-yard touchdown run with seven minutes left gave them a 46-3 lead over the ‘Pack.
Nevada scored its only touchdown with 25 seconds to go to set the final at 46-11, but the Lions performance across the board left little doubt from the start what the outcome of this game would be.
The highly ranked Lions, coming off a trip to the National Semifinals in 2024, didn’t take long to show off their newly acquired wide receivers Kyron Hudson and Trebor Pena.
After Dani Dennis-Sutton forced a fumble on Nevada’s opening drive, Penn State took over on its 31-yard line.
On the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Drew Allar completed a pass to Hudson for 13 yards and a first down on the 48-yard line.
The next play was a wide receiver pitch to Pena, and he ran for another 13 yards and a first down on the Nevada 39.
From there, the drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Nicholas Singleton, but the first two plays made it clear that the PSU receivers were to be an integral part of the game plan.
Penn State next got a field goal by Ryan Barker after an interception by defensive lineman Zane Durant to make it 10-0 with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
The Lions went on to blow the game open in the second quarter on another field goal by Barker, a 12-yard touchdown run by Kaytron Allen and a beautiful, 31-yard touchdown pass from Allar to Hudson with 23 seconds left in the first half.,
Singleton scored again in the second half, Barker kicked his third and fourth field goals, and Grunkemeyer finished a 94-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
In all, Penn State ran up 438 yards of offense including 303 through the air with a touchdown.
Allar was 22-26 for 217 yards and the touchdown to Hudson, while Allen ran for 43 yards and a touchdown and Singleton ran for 19 and two touchdowns.
Hudson caught six passes for 89 yards and a score and Pena caught seven passes for 74 yards.
Which brings us to Week 2 and FIU.
The Panthers ran for six touchdowns against Bethune-Cookman using three different running backs almost interchangeably.
Kejon Owens ran for 71 yards in the game and scored two touchdowns, while Devonte Lyons got 54 yards and a TD and Anthony Carrie added 49 yards and a TD.
Junior quarterback Keyone Jenkins completed 18-of-30 passes for 187 yards to a total of 13 receivers, led by Eric Nelson who had 47 yards in receptions.
BCU scored first with an early field goal, but FIU ran off 28 unanswered points and took a commanding 28-6 halftime lead.
Another quick score after a turnover to begin the third quarter made it 35-6, and the Panthers were on their way to win No. 1.
FIU ran up 223 rushing yards, 233 passing yards and outgained BCU 456 to 346. The Panther defense did not give up a touchdown and held BCU to just 105 yards rushing.
Penn State and FIU met one time before, a PSU 41-3 win in 2014.
Penn State will likely be a hefty favorite again in this game, but both teams will be looking to improve on their first-game performances.
FIU will certainly try to test the Lions’ run defense and mix in a passing game that had six receivers with multiple catches.
Kickoff is set for 12 noon at Beaver Stadium.
