Penn State starts hot, runs away with a 55-13 win over Buffalo

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — After a slow start against Temple last weekend, Penn State made sure it didn’t make the same mistake against Buffalo.

The Nittany Lions came out of the Beaver Stadium gates firing on Saturday and beat Buffalo, 55-13, behind the best performance from Penn State’s running backs this season and another 100-yard performance from sophomore wide receiver Koby Howard.

Penn State (3-0) forced the Bulls (1-2) to fumble four times and recovered two, while it has yet to commit a turnover this season.

“[We’re] not where we need to be, but I think a team that has certainly grown in different entities each week and is still a team that, in my opinion, has got so much ability and growth to go,” Penn State coach Matt Campbell said. “We grew in some areas that were really critical focal points. This is college football, and I think our ability to grow from Week 3 to Week 4 will be really important.”

Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser expressed his frustration with the run game this week, calling out “mediocrity” and taking the blame for the running backs’ struggles through three weeks.

Mouser surely was much happier with Saturday’s performance. Penn State had 304 rushing yards, led by redshirt sophomore Quinton Martin Jr., who had 100 yards on 10 carries.

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Martin, who didn’t record a snap against Temple last week, recorded the Nittany Lions’ longest rush of the year with a 61-yard run on just his second carry of the day at the end of the first quarter.

“It was great to see Quinton really had a great moment,” Campbell said. “I think if you ask Q, Q would tell you maybe one of his best weeks of practice.”

Junior James Peoples and senior Carson Hansen scored their first touchdowns of the year on 16- and 12-yard rushes, respectively, and Peoples added a second TD in the third quarter. Both averaged 7.4 yards per carry.

Hansen again was the announced starting running back, but the carries were split as evenly as could be before Penn State began playing its backups. By the end, Peoples had eight carries (58 yards) and Hansen had five (37 yards) to Martin’s 10.

Redshirt junior Cam Wallace got in on the fun as well with a 59-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“All four guys really did some great things with the ball in their hands at some critical moments,” Campbell said. “So I think that part I thought there was growth, but I also thought there was growth because there was some really good blocking on the perimeter.”

Although the run game shined, the production from the passing game matched it. Quarterback Rocco Becht finished 11 for 19 for 212 yards and two touchdowns. Howard finished with three catches for 115 yards and a touchdown.

Campbell said this Tuesday that his team is “getting healthier,” but it was without two of its most valuable offensive starters for most of the win over Buffalo.

Center Brock Riker left the game in the first quarter and didn’t return. He was seen shaking his ankle out on the sideline.

“We really didn’t know exactly where we would be with Brock going into the game,” Campbell said. “We wanted to at least kind of put him out there. It still didn’t feel like he was at 100%. That just didn’t feel like it was the right situation to leave him in the game.”

Redshirt freshman Vaea Ikakoula filled in for Riker the rest of the game. Ikakoula transferred from Iowa State this offseason, where he played in four games (two starts) last year.

Ikakoula had some slip-ups while filling in, including missing a rusher on a third-and-15 that forced Becht to throw the ball away late in the first half.

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Tight end Andrew Rappleyea also appeared to hurt his shoulder midgame. The redshirt junior went to the locker room and returned in street clothes.

Rappleyea had three catches for 24 yards and a touchdown before he left. Campbell said postgame that Rappleyea could have returned to the game, and the staff held him out as a precaution.

Penn State opens Big Ten play next Saturday at home against Wisconsin (5 p.m., Peacock). The two last faced in 2024 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., where the Nittany Lions won, 28-13.