STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Four net rushing yards for Idaho.

Seven times Vandal quarterbacks were sacked by Penn State.

A total of 653 yards of offense, led by KJ Hamler’s 115 receiving yards and two touchdowns, for the Nittany Lions.

A $1.45 million paycheck for Idaho.

Those were the key numbers from the Vandals’ 79-7 loss to No. 15 Penn State on Saturday in the season opener for both teams, played before 104,527 at Beaver Stadium, the largest crowd Idaho has ever played in front of.

“Overall, we expected to play a lot better than we did, but now we got to get back to work,” Idaho coach Paul Petrino said. “We’ll go to practice tomorrow and fight and continue to keep fighting and getting better.”

Despite being backed up on short fields, the Vandal defense held the Nittany Lions to field goals on each of the first two drives — surrendering just 23 yards on 10 plays from scrimmage. Eventually the Penn State offense got the upper hand, taking a 20-0 lead after the first quarter. By halftime, Penn State held a 44-0 advantage.

Idaho’s lone scoring drive was set up by freshman David Eppinger’s recovery of a muffed punt in the fourth quarter. On the first play of the ensuing drive, quarterback Mason Petrino connected with Nick Romano out of the backfield for a 24-yard catch along the sideline and down to the 1-yard line. The next play saw Petrino roll out and find sophomore tight end Logan Kendall for his first career touchdown.

That trimmed the Penn State lead to 65-7.

Senior wide receiver Jeff Cotton paced the Idaho offense with six catches for 83 yards.

“It was a great atmosphere and exciting to be out there and play,” Cotton said. “I think whoever you’re playing, you don’t think you’re going to get beat the way that we did but it is what it is. We’re going to come back and be better than ever. I mean, I came out here thinking that we were about to win, so ... ”

Sophomore linebacker Tre Walker led the Idaho defense with eight tackles, including two for loss.

“It is absolutely fair,” Walker said of a middlin’ FCS team like Idaho playing a ranked FBS squad like Penn State. “I feel like playing games like this means that we find out what kind of a player we are trying to be, which just helps to find out where you’re at as a team and how to get better. I just feel like it’s good for everybody.”

Sean Clifford’s first game as Penn State’s starting quarterback was a short one.

A near flawless first-half performance backed by a dominant effort from the defense allowed Clifford to take the second half off.

Clifford left the game early in the third after his 14-for-23, 280-yard, two-touchdown effort helped spot Penn State a comfortable lead in his first career start. He chipped in 57 rushing yards on seven carries and hooked up with Hamler for scoring strikes of 36 and 21 yards.

Idaho quarterbacks Mason Petrino and Colton Richardson alternated quarters, then alternated series. Petrino, a senior, was 11 of 17 for 91 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Richardson, a junior, was 5 of 9 for 50 yards. Richardson was sacked four times, Petrino three.

“I think they both did a good job at times of making checks,” Paul Petrino said. “I think they both struggled at times because of protection. So we just have to watch the tape. And I already decided that I was going to play both of them the first three games and then probably make a decision from there.”

NOTES: Redshirt freshman running back Aundre Carter led Idaho with 32 rushing yards on 14 carries. ... freshman Nick Romano started at running back in his collegiate debut. Romano had three catches for 28 yards, including a 24-yard catch to get the Vandals to the 1-yard line on their scoring drive. ... freshman Sean McCormick recorded a blocked punt in the third quarter. ... freshman linebacker Sully Shannon recorded six tackles in his collegiate debut, finishing second on the team in the category. ... redshirt junior linebacker Charles Akanno had five tackles, two tackles for loss, one pass breakup and one forced fumble. ... The Nittany Lions led the FBS last season in sacks per game (3.62).

No. 15 Penn St. 79, Idaho 7

Idaho 0 0 0 7 — 7

Penn St. 20 24 14 21 — 79

First Quarter

PSU—FG Pinegar 28, 11:30

PSU—FG Stout 53, 8:35

PSU—J.Brown 23 run (Pinegar kick), 5:03

PSU—Slade 1 run (Pinegar kick), 1:50

Second Quarter

PSU—Hamler 36 pass from Clifford (Pinegar kick), 10:28

PSU—Ford 81 run (Pinegar kick), 4:27

PSU—Hamler 21 pass from Clifford (Pinegar kick), 1:39

PSU—FG Pinegar 38, :00

Third Quarter

PSU—J.Brown 2 run (Pinegar kick), 13:11

PSU—Cain 3 run (Pinegar kick), 11:28

Fourth Quarter

PSU—Strange 4 pass from Levis (Pinegar kick), 14:51

IDA—Kendall 1 pass from Petrino (Coffey kick), 12:35

PSU—Cain 9 run (Pinegar kick), 7:48

PSU—Eury 8 run (Pinegar kick), 2:17

IDA PSU

First downs 5 35

Rushes-yards 28-4 45-331

Passing 141 342

Comp-Att-Int 16-26-1 25-37-0

Return Yards 0 30

Punts-Avg. 11-31.6 1-32.0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-1

Penalties-Yards 10-67 3-30

Time of Possession 27:04 32:56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Idaho, Carter 14-32, Martinez 3-16, Kendall 1-0, Richardson 4-(minus 19), Petrino 6-(minus 25). Penn St., Ford 6-107, Clifford 7-57, Eury 6-44, Cain 9-44, J.Brown 5-38, Levis 5-21, Hamler 1-16, Slade 5-9, Shuster 1-(minus 5).

PASSING—Idaho, Richardson 5-9-0-50, Petrino 11-17-1-91. Penn St., Clifford 14-23-0-280, Levis 11-14-0-62.

RECEIVING—Idaho, Cotton 6-83, Romano 3-28, Haywood 3-7, M.Noil 1-9, Martinez 1-9, Byers 1-4, Kendall 1-1. Penn St., Hamler 4-115, Shorter 3-36, Carr 3-27, Ford 3-6, J.Brown 2-31, George 2-28, Sullivan-Brown 2-13, Slade 1-26, Freiermuth 1-25, Dotson 1-13, Weller 1-10, Kuntz 1-8, Strange 1-4.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.