UMass Minutemen vs Penn State Nittany Lions Match Player Stats On Sep 20, 2014

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 20, 2014

Penn State 48, Massachusetts 7: Bill Belton and Zach Zwinak had two touchdown runs apiece in the second quarter alone as host Penn State rolled over the Minutemen.

Akeel Lynch added a team-high 81 rushing yards and a touchdown for the Nittany Lions, who amassed 228 yards on the ground while improving to 4-0 for the first time in six years. Christian Hackenberg completed 12-of-23 passes for 179 yards and D.J. Crook came off the bench to throw his first career touchdown pass as Penn State claimed its final tune-up before Big Ten play begins next Saturday versus Northwestern.

Massachusetts (0-4) produced just three rushing yards on 29 attempts in falling to 2-26 as an FBS squad. Blake Frohnapfel was 17-for-33 for 263 yards and hit Tajae Sharpe for a 77-yard score early in the fourth to avoid the shutout.

Matthew Wylie missed a 39-yard field goal on the first possession for the Minutemen before Penn State responded with back-to-back field goals by Sam Ficken and never looked back. Belton ran in a 24-yard TD early in the second and scored from 20 yards out soon after a Nittany Lions fumble recovery to make it 20-0 with 8:48 left before halftime.

Zwinak had short TD runs on the next two possessions to push the advantage to 34-0 at the break and Lynch found the end zone on a 15-yard run in the third for a 41-0 lead. Soon after replacing Hackenberg for the first game action of his career, Crook connected with Brent Wilkerson for a TD to cap an 11-play drive late in the third.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sharpe had four catches for 99 yards while teammate Marken Michel led all players with six grabs and 104 yards. ... Hackenberg finished without a touchdown pass for the second straight game after producing at least one in 13 of his first 14 games as a collegian. ... Massachusetts converted 3-of-13 third-down attempts, compared to 10-of-17 for Penn State.