September 15, 2018 Week 3 · Regular Season Belt defended

Penn State defends the belt, 63–10, at home over Kent State.

Home · Defending Holder

Penn StateAP No. 11 63

Away · Challenger

Kent State 10

AP poll, week 3: Kent State unranked at Penn State No. 11 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Penn State came in 7 days into reign #302, which began with a win over Pittsburgh, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Penn State went on to defend it 1 more time before Ohio State took it on September 29, 2018, 21 days after the reign began.

For Kent State this was its 2nd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 2 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

This is the only time Kent State and Penn State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Penn State dominated from the opening kickoff, with Trace McSorley orchestrating an explosive offensive performance that saw him score four touchdowns on the ground and through the air in the first half alone. Kent State managed an early touchdown response on a 47-yard pass to Mike Carrigan, but Penn State's defense largely shut down the Golden Flashes after that opening drive, forcing them into a sluggish offensive performance throughout. The Nittany Lions added five more touchdowns in the second half, including a 95-yard bomb from Sean Clifford to Daniel George in the fourth quarter, to cruise to a dominant 63-10 victory and retain the belt. Despite winning the time of possession battle, Kent State's offense could only muster 221 total yards and never seriously threatened Penn State's defense after the first quarter.

McSorley's three first-quarter touchdowns (two rushing, one passing) established Penn State's dominance early
Kent State's opening touchdown drive to Mike Carrigan showed brief competitiveness before Penn State's defense tightened
McSorley's interception to Elvis Hines in the second quarter, though not resulting in a Kent State score, showed minor Penn State vulnerability
Sean Clifford's 95-yard touchdown pass to Daniel George in the fourth quarter exemplified Penn State's offensive explosion and sealed the dominant victory

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Penn StateKent State

Total yards667221

Rushing yards29741

Passing yards370180

First downs2618

3rd down conv.5/127/20

Turnovers10

Penalties–yards9–10910–83

Time of possession28:2231:38

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 12:51	Penn State	+40 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to DeAndre Thompkins for 40 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q1 9:43	Kent State	+47 yd	Woody Barrett pass complete to Mike Carrigan for 47 yds for a TD PENN ST Penalty, offside defense ( Yards) declined, (Matthew Trickett KICK)
Q1 5:07	Penn State	+1 yd	Trace McSorley run for 1 yd for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q1 8:09	Penn State	+31 yd	Trace McSorley run for 18 yds to the KntSt 26 for a 1ST down KENT ST Penalty, personal foul (Matt Bahr) to the KntSt 13 for a 1ST down
Q1 1:09	Penn State	+2 yd	Trace McSorley run for 2 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q2 15:00	Kent State	+32 yd	Matthew Trickett punt for 40 yds, punt out-of-bounds at the KntSt 49 , DeAndre Thompkins returns for 32 yds to the KntSt 49
Q2 3:48	Penn State	-6 yd	Trace McSorley sacked by Kj Sherald for a loss of 6 yards to the PnSt 21 Trace McSorley fumbled, , return for 0 yards
Q2 3:48	Penn State	-26 yd	Trace McSorley pass intercepted Elvis Hines return for 26 yds to the PnSt 7
Q2 1:23	Kent State	+0 yd	Jo-El Shaw run for a loss of 8 yards to the PnSt 15 Jo-El Shaw fumbled, recovered by KntSt Jo-El Shaw , return for no gain to the PnSt 15
Q2 0:35	Kent State	+24 yd	Matthew Trickett 24 yd FG GOOD
Q2 0:04	Penn State	+13 yd	Trace McSorley run for 13 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q2 0:35	Kent State	+52 yd	Colten McFadden kickoff for 65 yds , KJ Hamler return for 52 yds to the KntSt 43
Q2 0:25	Penn State	+22 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to KJ Hamler for 22 yds to the KntSt 13 for a 1ST down
Q3 13:08	Penn State	+23 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Pat Freiermuth for 23 yds to the KntSt 11 for a 1ST down
Q3 10:05	Penn State	+7 yd	Mark Allen run for 7 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q3 7:42	Penn State	+2 yd	Ricky Slade run for 2 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q3 8:17	Penn State	+39 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to DeAndre Thompkins for 39 yds to the KntSt 2 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:37	Penn State	+41 yd	Trace McSorley pass complete to Brandon Polk for 41 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q3 5:45	Penn State	+3 yd	Miles Sanders run for 3 yds to the KntSt 41 Miles Sanders fumbled, forced by Jordan Silva, recovered by PnSt Trace McSorley
Q3 2:37	Kent State	+27 yd	Woody Barrett pass complete to Antwan Dixon for 12 yds to the PnSt 37 for a 1ST down PENN ST Penalty, roughing passer (Antonio Shelton) to the PnSt 48 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:37	Kent State	+33 yd	Matthew Trickett punt for 47 yds , KJ Hamler returns for 33 yds to the 50 yard line
Q4 6:55	Penn State	+95 yd	Sean Clifford pass complete to Daniel George for 95 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 1:09	Penn State	+15 yd	Johnathan Thomas run for 15 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Q4 2:20	Penn State	+75 yd	Johnathan Thomas run for 69 yds to the PENNST 11 for a 1ST down KENT ST Penalty, personal foul (6 Yards) to the KntSt 5 for a 1ST down

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Penn State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Trace McSorley	11/22	229	10.4	2	1
Sean Clifford	3/3	141	47.0	1	0

Kent State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Woody Barrett	20/38	176	4.6	1	0
Dustin Crum	1/2	4	2.0	0	0

Rushing

Penn State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Miles Sanders	14	86	6.1	0	13
Johnathan Thomas	3	84	28.0	1	69
Mark Allen	11	62	5.6	1	19
Trace McSorley	9	54	6.0	3	18
Sean Clifford	2	10	5.0	0	6
Ricky Slade	5	1	0.2	1	2
KJ Hamler	1	0	0.0	0	0

Kent State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Dustin Crum	3	23	7.7	10
Jo-el Shaw	10	22	2.2	10
Will Matthews	4	16	4.0	5
Justin Rankin	3	0	-5.0	2
Team	1	-2	-2.0	0
Woody Barrett	16	-18	-1.1	11

Receiving

Penn State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
DeAndre Thompkins	4	101	25.3	1	40
Daniel George	1	95	95.0	1	95
Brandon Polk	2	55	27.5	1	41
Pat Freiermuth	2	35	17.5	0	23
Tyler Shoop	1	32	32.0	0	32
Zack Kuntz	1	32	32.0	0	32
Miles Sanders	3	30	10.0	0	19
KJ Hamler	1	22	22.0	0	22

Kent State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Antwan Dixon	5	59	11.8	0	18
Mike Carrigan	3	58	19.3	1	47
Isaiah McKoy	3	21	7.0	0	19
Justin Rankin	2	18	9.0	0	12
Jo-el Shaw	3	14	4.7	0	15
Manny Lawrence-Burke	1	4	4.0	0	4
Kavious Price	1	4	4.0	0	4
Trey Harrell	3	2	0.7	0	5

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Penn State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Cam Brown	7	3	0	2	0	0
Jonathan Sutherland	5	4	0	1	0	0
Micah Parsons	5	2	0	0.5	0	1
Nick Scott	4	1	0	0	0	0
Shareef Miller	3	3	2	3	0	0
Jayson Oweh	3	3	2	2	0	1
Lamont Wade	3	3	1	2	0	0
Tariq Castro-Fields	3	3	0	1	1	0
Jesse Luketa	3	3	0	0	0	0
Ayron Monroe	3	2	0	0	0	0
Garrett Taylor	3	2	0	0	1	0
Shaka Toney	3	1	0	0.5	0	0
Yetur Gross-Matos	2	2	1	2	0	1
Jan Johnson	2	2	0	0	0	0
Ellison Jordan	2	1	1	1	0	0
Amani Oruwariye	2	1	0	0	2	0
Ellis Brooks	2	1	0	0	0	0
Isaac Lutz	2	0	0	0	0	0
Trace McSorley	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jabari Butler	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jake Cooper	1	1	0	0	0	0
Kevin Givens	1	1	0	0	0	0
Zech McPhearson	1	1	0	0	1	0
Dae'Lun Darien	1	1	0	0	1	0
Donovan Johnson	1	1	0	0	1	0
PJ Mustipher	1	1	0	0	0	0
Jarvis Miller	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jason Vranic	1	0	0	0	0	0
Daniel Joseph	1	0	0	0	1	0
Antonio Shelton	1	0	0	0	0	0
Max Chizmar	1	0	0	0	0	0
Trent Gordon	1	0	0	0	0	0

Kent State

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Dalton Hicks	12	4	0	0.5	0	0
Matt Bahr	9	3	0	0.5	0	1
Jamal Parker	5	4	0	0	0	0
Cepeda Phillips	5	3	0	0	0	0
Jordan Silva	5	2	0	1	0	0
Juantez McRae	4	2	0	0	0	0
Elvis Hines	4	2	0	0	1	0
Nick Faulkner	3	3	0	1	0	0
Dominic Hill	3	3	0	0	0	0
KJ Sherald	3	2	1	1	0	0
Matthew Trickett	2	2	0	0	0	0
Darryl Marshall	2	1	0	0	1	0
Theo Majette	2	1	0	0	0	1
Miles Daniel	1	1	0	0	0	0
Colten McFadden	1	1	0	0	0	0
Dennis Wariboko	1	1	0	0	0	0
Isaiah McKoy	1	1	0	0	0	0
Theo Eboigbe	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Penn State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Trace McSorley	1	0	0
Miles Sanders	1	0	0

Kent State

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jo-el Shaw	1	0	0

Interceptions

Penn State

No recorded stats in this category.

Kent State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Elvis Hines	1	26	0

Kick Returns

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
KJ Hamler	1	52	52.0	52	0

Kent State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Justin Rankin	3	46	15.3	19	0

Kicking

Penn State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Jake Pinegar	0/0	0.0	0	9/9	9

Kent State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Matthew Trickett	1/1	100.0	24	1/1	4

Punt Returns

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
DeAndre Thompkins	3	62	20.7	32
KJ Hamler	1	33	33.0	33
Tariq Castro-Fields	1	-2	-2.0	0

Kent State

No recorded stats in this category.

Punting

Penn State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Blake Gillikin	2	97	48.5	2	0	58

Kent State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Matthew Trickett	11	405	36.8	1	2	50

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401013350) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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