Here are 5 takeaways from Penn State football’s 55-10 victory over Rutgers

Penn State football not only took down Rutgers on the road, but the Nittany Lions bludgeoned the Scarlet Knights in a 55-10 win.

The No. 11 Nittany Lions crushed the Scarlet Knights with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Nick Singleton when they first got on the scoreboard. The Nittany Lions were down 10-7, prior to a 10-yard touchdown reception by Tyler Warren that put Penn State up 14-10. Penn State scored 48 unanswered points to take home the victory.

Here are five takeaways from Penn State’s victory over Rutgers.

Designed runs are all of the rage

Sean Clifford made a number of plays on his feet and most of them were on designed runs from offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. Clifford had four rushes for seven, three, 11 and 11 yards. Two of the rushes — his rush for three yards and his second 11-yard rush — were rushing plays called for him by Yurcich. His final rush was a 14-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown with 1:03 left in the second quarter.

Freshmen carried the game

Singleton and Kaytron Allen both had strong games. Allen led the way with 11 carries for 117 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown, while Singleton had the aforementioned 100-yard kickoff return. He added nine rushes for 62 rushing yards. They became the first freshman running back duo to each have over 700 rushing yards in the same season.

Abdul Carter had another strong performance with four total tackles (three solo), a sack, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. Not too shabby from the freshmen.

Passing offense struck when it needed to

Clifford went 17-for-26 (65%) on passes for 157 yards, one touchdown pass and no interceptions. The redshirt senior quarterback missed on his first pass to Keandre Lambert-Smith. He went on to complete six consecutive passes for 53 yards. Clifford later linked up with tight end Tyler Warren on a play action pass for a 10-yard touchdown.

The seasoned veteran later made four straight completions with each pass going for a first down. His first of four passes was a 21-yard gain by Mitchell Tinsley on third and seven, then an 18-yard pass to Harrison Wallace III on first down, followed by two more completions to Tinsley — an 11-yard pass and another 21-yard pass.

Penn State makes its mark on defense

The Nittany Lions were down 10-7 with Rutgers at its own 14-yard line. Scarlet Knights quarterback Gavin Wimsatt hit tight end Johnny Langan on a pass behind the line of scrimmage, Marquis Wilson immediately met Langan with the initial contact and Dom DeLuca knocked the ball loose. Kobe King swooped in to return the ball 14 yards for a touchdown to give Penn State a 14-10 lead following the extra point with 50 seconds to go in the first.

After nabbing a 28-10 lead in the first half, the Nittany Lions came out firing on all cylinders on the defensive side of the ball in the third quarter. Rutgers immediately struck with Wimsatt hitting Sean Ryan on a slant route across the middle for a 55-yard gain. After two incomplete passes, Wimsatt got sacked 10 yards in the backfield by Curtis Jacobs and Ji’Ayir Brown scooped the ball up for a 70-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Winning streak continues and gives Penn State a barometer

Penn State now has three consecutive wins against Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers. They were all teams that the Nittany Lions were supposed to beat. The talent gap is more of a gulf between the three teams, and Michigan State next Saturday may be more of the same.

It also proves that Penn State has some work to do as the program sits solidly as the third-best team in the conference and in the Big Ten East. If the Nittany Lions want to be the best, they have to go through the Ohio States and Michigans of the world. As things currently stand, they still have some work to do and they can catch up soon with strong recruiting and consistent playcalling.

A 10-2 regular season, if accomplished on Nov. 26 in a win over Michigan State, is a major success for Penn State and will give the team added motivation heading into the bowl season.