STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ Penn State made its share of mistakes Saturday in its final game before the start of its Big Ten schedule, but Trace McSorley didn't allow them to mess up his day.
McSorley, who had three touchdown passes called back because of penalties, still threw for two scores and ran for three more to lift the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions to a 63-10 victory over Kent State before a crowd of 106,528 at Beaver Stadium.
The Lions (3-0), who face a short week with their Big Ten opener being Friday night at Illinois, were penalized eight times for 99 yards and also had an onside kick recovered against them for the second time this season. But their defense shut down the Golden Flashes (1-2) after the visitors scored on their initial possession of the game.
With the help of a 234-yard performance by the Penn State reserves, the Nittany Lions rolled up 667 yards of total offense. They rushed for 297 yards, the third time in three games they have reached the 200-yard plateau. Miles Sanders gained 86 yards in 14 carries, and backups Mark Allen, Ricky Slade and Johnathan Thomas scored one touchdown each.
McSorley, who played three quarters, saw three drops by his receivers, and threw his first interception of the season on a pass that went off Sanders' hands and was picked off by Kent State safety Elvis Hines. He finished 11 of 22 for 229 yards and rushed nine times for 54 yards. The three rushing touchdowns _ of 1, 2 and 13 yards _ gave him 24 for his career, a school record.
Backup Sean Clifford completed 3 of 3 passes for 141 yards, including a school record 95-yard touchdown strike to Daniel George with 6 minutes, 55 seconds to play.
The Nittany Lions led 28-10 at the half but had two touchdowns called back because of penalties, including a 24-yard pass from McSorley to Juwan Johnson that was nullified by an offensive pass interference call.
The Lions also had a 56-yard TD pass from McSorley to K.J. Hamler wiped out by a holding penalty on their first possession, but they later scored on a 40-yard pass from McSorley to DeAndre Thompkins with the help of a roughing-the-kicker penalty on a Penn State punt.
Then in the third quarter, McSorley connected on a 66-yard ball to Cam Sullivan-Brown but saw that cancelled by another holding penalty. As with the earlier miscue, McSorley made up for it with a 41-yard scoring pass to former high school teammate Brandon Polk.
The McSorley-to-Thompkins TD pass in the first quarter marked the third time in three games that the Nittany Lions had scored on their initial possession of the game. The Golden Flashes answered just 3 minutes later on a 47-yard pass from Woody Barrett to Mike Carrigan that tied the game.
Kent State then recovered an onside kick at its 45 but went three plays and out. The Nittany Lions took over and scored in nine plays on McSorley's 1-yard run. A 12-yard punt by Kent State set up the Lions at the visitors 31-yard line on their next possession, and Allen's 19-yard run led to McSorley's second rushing TD that made it 21-7 after one quarter.
Kent State almost scored on Hines' interception late in the second quarter but McSorley caught him at the Lions 7-yard line, and the Golden Flashes could only manage a 24-yard field goal by Matthew Trickett with 35 seconds left in the half.
That was enough time, however, for Penn State to score again before halftime thanks to Hamler, who returned the kickoff 52 yards to the Kent State 43. The Lions scored in four plays, with McSorley's 13-yard scoring run finishing it off and giving them a 28-10 halftime lead.
Allen and Slade scored touchdowns to end each of Penn State's first two possessions of the third quarter to make it 42-10, and the Nittany Lions could name the score the rest of the way.
