No. 14 Penn State defeats Buffalo in a rout at home 55-13
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STATE COLLEGE (AP) -- Rocco Becht threw for 212 yards with two touchdowns, Koby Howard scored twice and No. 14 Penn State cruised past Buffalo 55-13 on Saturday.
Becht secured his Bowl Subdivision-leading 29th win and the Nittany Lions (3-0) capped their nonconference schedule in relatively easy fashion against an outmatched Mid-American Conference opponent that was outgained 305-80 in the first half.
Despite the lopsided stats and score, Penn State coach Matt Campbell was hoping for a cleaner performance.
"Not where we need to be," Campbell said. "But I think a team that has certainly grown in different entities each week and still a team that in my opinion’s got so much ability and growth to go."
The Nittany Lions' miscues were minuscule.
Penn State's defense forced three punts and a turnover in the first quarter while its offense scored on its first three drives to put the game out of reach before halftime.
Overall, D'Anton Lynn's defense forced 10 punts and two turnovers and only allowed Buffalo's Oliver Hautanen to kick a pair of field goals. The Bulls (1-2) crossed midfield just three times.
"Our standard is we're going to run to the ball, we're going to be physical," Penn State linebacker Kooper Ebel said.
Howard, who was one of three Nittany Lions players to eclipse 100 all-purpose yards, ran for a 20-yard touchdown on a reverse and caught a 70-yard pass from Becht in the second quarter.
"It's definitely awesome to have a guy like that out wide," Becht said. "We have a lot of guys like that in the room, but Koby's a little different. He's able to go out there and make plays when they're not probably supposed to be made, so I have all the trust in him."
Ryan Barker opened the scoring for Penn State with a 48-yard field goal before James Peoples capped the team's next drive with a 16-yard scamper around the right edge of Buffalo's out-of-order defense to put Penn State up for good.
The Bulls helped the Nittany Lions pile on immediately, however.
Caleb Bacon's edge pressure forced a Buffalo fumble after three Bulls players collided on a handoff try in their backfield. Ikenna Ezeogu recovered at the Buffalo 20 and Becht needed just four plays and a quick slant to Andrew Rappleyea to make it 17-0.
Hautanen kicked a 38-yard field goal to cut Penn State's lead to 34-6 at halftime.
Peoples ran for another score in the third and Carson Hansen and Cam Wallace added rushing touchdowns late for Penn State.
James McNeil Jr. scored on a 1-yard rush for Buffalo with 5:01 left to play.