Already faced with minimal time between arrival and kickoff after moving up the start time of its match in order to be back in Happy Valley for Saturday night, Penn State men's rugby team left State College later than expected.

Upon arriving in Baltimore for its match against MARFU opponent Loyola of Maryland, the team had between 45 and 50 minutes to warm up and prepare for the tilt.

"If you're an athlete and you're a champion, you put all of that stuff out of your mind when you step between the lines," Penn State rugby coach Don Ferrell said. "It's time to go. Regardless of how long you had to warm up, or how long you drove or whatever."

Unlike their last road match, when the Ruggers struggled while posting a less-than-stellar victory, this time they were focused.

"I thought we were putting them under pressure from the start, playing [the ball] out wide," Ferrell said. "I was pretty pleased with our focus."

On a day that saw Penn State's offense clicking right from the opening kickoff, the team scored 8 tries en route to a convincing 50-10 win over Loyola.

"We were limited again by a narrower field," Penn State assistant coach Terry Ryland said, "but I think we're doing a good job of what Trinity showed us."

Leading the way offensively with two tries apiece were Benny Vunibobo, who was playing in his first match after a lengthy absence from the team, and once again excelling from the 15-spot, Luke Roberts. Roberts also saw his kicking performance improve from last week as he connected on five of eight conversions.

While the offensive output didn't show it, Ferrell expected the defense to suffer, as the team played without the use of several key contributors. Most notably, All-American Matt Miller was among those unable to play after suffering what are being described as "nagging injuries," last week in practice.

"[Loyola] had some speed in the wings and backs. I was excited to see how we matched up considering our inexperience," Ferrell said. "I thought our forwards did well."

While the defensive effort was a step up from last week's, Ferrell still wasn't satisfied -- especially after hearing that this weekend's opponent, Maryland, nearly came away with an upset of No. 7 Navy.

"It's kind of tough to build team cohesiveness when you're switching guys in and out," Ferrell said. "We're still not where I want to be as far as aggressive defense goes."