{"id":65541,"date":"2024-10-02T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=65541"},"modified":"2024-10-01T22:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T02:59:11","slug":"penn-state-vs-ucla-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/10\/02\/penn-state-vs-ucla-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State vs. UCLA Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions play their next game on Saturday against the UCLA Bruins.\u00a0 This is the last of four straight games at Beaver Stadium.\u00a0 It is also Penn State\u2019s second Big Ten contest of the season.\u00a0 The Nittany Lions defeated Illinois<\/a> 21-7 in their first Big Ten game of the season last week to stay undefeated.\u00a0 Below is a preview of the Penn State vs. UCLA matchup.<\/p>\n

UCLA is a newcomer to the Big Ten, moving to the conference this season from the Pac-12.\u00a0 The Bruins enter the game with a record of 1-3 and are winless in two Big Ten games.\u00a0 After winning their season opener against Hawaii, UCLA has dropped three games in a row.\u00a0 This game marks UCLA’s first trip east this season and their first trip to Happy Valley since 1967.\u00a0 While everything seems set up for Penn State to win big, the Nittany Lions should not be taking UCLA lightly.<\/p>\n

UCLA (1-3) at #7 Penn State (4-0) Preview<\/h2>\n

When & Where: <\/strong>Saturday, October 5, 12 pm ET, at Penn State<\/p>\n

Last Game\u2019s Results: <\/strong>Penn State won at home, defeating Illinois 21-7.\u00a0 UCLA lost to Oregon at home by a score of 34-13.<\/p>\n

Last Season\u2019s Results: <\/strong>Penn State finished ranked #13 after a 10-3 season that ended with a Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss.\u00a0 UCLA was 8-5, in a season that ended with a victory in the LA Bowl over Boise State.<\/p>\n

Series History: <\/strong>UCLA leads the series all-time by a four to two margin.\u00a0 The teams last met in 1968, when Penn State won 21-6.<\/p>\n

Penn State vs. UCLA Preview: Nittany Lions to Watch<\/h2>\n

Tight End Tyler Warren<\/h3>\n

No matter what game or what type of opponent, Tyler Warren<\/a> has impacted the game.\u00a0 Following the Kent State game, head coach James Franklin said, \u201cHe\u2019s the best tight end in college football.\u201d\u00a0 His performance against Illinois did not dampen that enthusiasm.\u00a0 So far this season, Warren has significantly impacted the Penn State offense.<\/p>\n

In terms of receiving, he leads the team with 20 catches, which is almost one-third of all completed passes.\u00a0 It is also almost double Trey Wallace\u2019s<\/a> 11 receptions, which is second on the team.\u00a0 Warren also leads the team in receiving yards with 260 and is tied for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with two.<\/p>\n

It would be impossible for Warren to have all the team\u2019s receptions.\u00a0 That is because he threw a pass as well.\u00a0 The pass was a 17-yard completion.\u00a0 It was also a touchdown.\u00a0 Warren also ran the ball three times this season.\u00a0 One of those runs resulted in a touchdown.\u00a0 So, Warren has at least one touchdown receiving, one rushing, and one passing.<\/p>\n

The expectations were high<\/a> for Warren entering this season.\u00a0 He has easily surpassed them so far.\u00a0 However, he is becoming a \u201cmust-see\u201d player.\u00a0 Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is a creative playcaller and is obviously seeing value in the catching, running, and throwing abilities of Warren.\u00a0 Wondering what he\u2019ll do next makes Warren a Nittany Lion to watch.<\/p>\n

Kicker Sander Sahaydak<\/h3>\n

This is not Sander Sahaydak\u2019s<\/a> first time on the \u201cNittany Lions to Watch\u201d list.\u00a0 Despite winning the starting kicker job twice, he is not the clear-cut choice to kick a field goal with the game on the line.\u00a0 This is due to his poor performance in kicking field goals, both last year and this year.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Sahaydak had the starting kicker spot as the team broke camp.\u00a0 In the first game against West Virginia, he missed two field goals.\u00a0 He was benched after that, with the job going to Alex Felkins.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to 2024, and Sahaydak won the camp competition again.\u00a0 This time, he beat out Chase Meyer<\/a>, a transfer from Tulsa, and redshirt freshman Ryan Barker<\/a>.\u00a0 Against the same West Virginia<\/a> Mountaineers to start the 2024 season, he missed again, on a 47-yard attempt.\u00a0 Franklin stuck with him against Bowling Green<\/a>, and he was able to convert.\u00a0 He missed again against Illinois.\u00a0 In total this season, he has converted only two of five field goal attempts.<\/p>\n

In his Monday press conference, speaking of the summer kicking competition, Franklin said, \u201cIt was close, but I think everyone felt comfortable that we made the right decision.\u201d\u00a0 However, the competition is back on.\u00a0 Meyer has experience, as he converted 17 of 20 field goals last year for Tulsa.\u00a0 Barker has received a bit of experience, including the last extra point against Illinois.\u00a0 How Sahaydak responds to the renewed competition, if he is given the opportunity, makes him a Nittany Lion to watch.<\/p>\n

\"Penn
Photo courtesy: Dan Rainville \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions play their next game on Saturday against the UCLA Bruins.\u00a0 This is the last of four straight games at Beaver Stadium.\u00a0 It is also Penn State\u2019s second Big Ten contest of the season.\u00a0 The Nittany Lions defeated Illinois 21-7 in their first Big Ten game of the season last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5172,"featured_media":65546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[10009,32817,7983,837,309,7449],"class_list":["post-65541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","tag-alex-felkins","tag-andy-kotelnicki","tag-big-ten-football","tag-james-franklin","tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","tag-penn-state-offense"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}