PISCATAWAY, N.J. _ Penn State looked lethargic on an overcast Saturday playing the Big Ten's worst team, and Trace McSorley had one of his poorer days throwing the football, but the Nittany Lions came out of the game with what they wanted.
McSorley threw a pair of touchdown passes to freshman tight end Pat Freiermuth, both after Rutgers turnovers, and Jake Pinegar kicked two short field goals to lead the Lions to a 20-7 victory over the Scarlet Knights before a crowd of 44,840 at HighPoint.com Stadium.
The win was McSorley's 30th as Penn State's starting quarterback, establishing a program record and breaking a tie with Todd Blackledge and Tony Sacca.
The uninspired Nittany Lions (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) were not real sharp in any area on offense or defense, perhaps suffering a letdown after their victory last week over Wisconsin. McSorley completed just 3 of his first 13 passes and finished 17 of 37 for 183 yards including the two TDs.
On defense, Penn State had problems with a Rutgers rushing attack that had averaged 131 yards coming in to the game. The Scarlet Knights (1-10, 0-8) picked up 188 yards on the ground with sophomore Raheen Blackshear accounting for 102 yards on 22 carries and scoring his team's only touchdown on a 2-yard run with 9 minutes, 23 seconds to play.
Rutgers managed just 46 yards through the air, however. Its most significant pass came on a fourth-and-goal from the Penn State 2 on its first possession of the third quarter when the Scarlet Knights ran a "Philly Special" that ended with quarterback Gio Rescigno dropping the pass in the end zone.
McSorley was not on target for much of the first half, but he found his rhythm in the latter stages of the second quarter.
An interception by safety Garrett Taylor put Penn State in position at the Rutgers 28 and McSorley hit Freiermuth with a 23-yard pass on the second play for a first-and-goal at the 5. Two plays later from the 6, McSorley looped a pass to Freiermuth over linebacker Elijah Barnwell for the touchdown with just over 2 minutes left in the half.
The Lions held the Scarlet Knights to a three-and-out and regained possession at their own 20 with 1:05 to play. McSorley fired completions of 26 yards to K.J. Hamler and 35 yards to Jahan Dotson, and a pass interference penalty against Rutgers moved the ball to the 2 with 10 seconds left.
Penn State tried a run by Miles Sanders and a pass that Dotson couldn't handle, and had to settle for Pinegar's 19-yard field goal as time ran out in the half, making it 13-0 at the break. Pinegar had opened the scoring with a 22-yard field goal in the first quarter.
The Nittany Lions made it 20-0 early in the fourth quarter with a drive that was set up by defensive end Daniel Joseph's recovery of a Rutgers fumble at the Knights 46. On the eighth play of the march, McSorley found Freiermuth along the right sideline for the touchdown less than two minutes into the period.
The Scarlet Knights' best scoring chance came on their initial possession of the third quarter when they drove from their own 16 to the Lions 2. Rescigno, who relieved starter Artur Sitkowski late in the second quarter, ran for four first downs during the drive, which began with 14 consecutive runs.
On the 15th play, fourth-and-goal from the 2, Rutgers ran its version of the Philly Special, with Raheem Blackshear taking a direct snap and pitching the ball to running back Trey Snead. Snead hit a wide-open Rescigno in the end zone, but he dropped the ball, and Penn State took over on downs.
