Penn State’s offense took a while to wake up and the Nittany Lions didn’t knock the rust off quick enough to avoid some early Saturday afternoon drama but the Nittany Lions improved to 5-0 on the year following a 41-13 win over Northwestern. Penn State has now outscored teams 71-13 in the past two games, but it hasn’t always looked as pretty as it sounds. Here are the grades.
Offense: B
This group is such a hassle to grade because it doesn’t feel particularly great to look at and then there are 41 points on the scoreboard. This grade could be lower, could be higher, but it settles here because Penn State’s kind of convoluted but also successful offensive style is – apparently – working. The Nittany Lions also get some credit for showing up in the second half and saying that today is not the day for the upset of the year. Drew Allar was not overly sharp but he also didn’t parlay an out of sync day into turnovers and there’s something to be said for that. Trey Potts is proving to be a nice midseason surprise in the running game as well. Dante Cephas had seven targets on the afternoon which doesn’t look great against his just two catches, but there seems to be an increased emphasis to get him involved in the offense. After struggling a bit to make the transition out of the transfer portal, Cephas turning a corner to get more reps could be a difference maker for Penn State down the road. The Nittany Lions ended up going 8-for-17 on third down and a perfect 5-for-5 in the red zone. Three fumbles hurt the grade but only one lost counts for something [?]. End of the day this isn’t a game to write home about [hi mom] but this group gets credit for taking care of business in the second half no matter how it looked at times.
As a random aside, Drew Allar threw two passes late in the game deep down the field that reminded you how good his arm is, and how infrequently it gets used that way. Here’s to fans of the game seeing guys get open so he can let it fly.
Defense: A
Northwestern’s offense doesn’t exactly make you want to watch more football but Penn State’s defense continues to find its stride as the year goes along. Back-to-back weeks against pretty uncoordinated offenses have led to equally strong performances by this Nittany Lion unit but Penn State gets full marks for how well it has played regardless of who is lined up against it. Seven sacks and 12 tackles for a loss really hammered home the dominance Penn State had in the trenches up front. If there’s anything to really knock here it’s that Penn State lost contain on the quarterback a few times and had a handful of tackles it would like back. The good news is that neither Ohio State or Michigan boast a quarterback that is going to take advantage of that in any serious fashion [although maybe JJ McCarthy is faster than advertised?] so while it’s not good, it’s also less of critical issue than some of the other things Penn State might need to handle against those two programs. A four-for-18 afternoon on third down only highlighted Penn State’s “get off the field” approach. There were some things here or there that will need to get cleaned up, but let’s not overcomplicate the grade on this one.
Special Teams: B+
Nick Singleton fumbling on the opening play of the game hurts this score but on the whole Penn State has managed to turn special teams from an issue to something that is at the very least no longer a problem. Alex Felkins had makes from 20 and 47 yards and has pretty much locked up the kicking job at this point. The return games could be more interesting, but you can’t argue with “everyone did their job.” This was also one of Reilly Thompson’s better punting days with a 46.8 average. He’s not Blake Gillikin but he’s also not sending the thing 15 rows into the stands either. All told you can’t find much to fault from this bunch.
Coaching: B
Penn State won by a ton which is basically the point of the whole enterprise, but these are the kinds of games you are hoping to see a better team get up for faster than it did. Credit due for whatever was thrown at the half because Penn State took care of things in the second. Manny Diaz has his defense clicking and that counts for something. Penn State’s offense has some work to do to find a consistent identity but 41 points is 41 points. Eventually everyone will have to embrace Penn State just being a kind of ugly but also very good team. Coaching gets an obligatory knock for this game being 10% more dramatic than it needed to be but 41-13 ain’t nothing. Penn State has had some dumb penalties this season, it’s probably safe to assume an otherwise historically disciplined program under James Franklin has suddenly forgotten to teach that point, but also the buck stops at the top even if that’s probably unfair.
Overall: B
Penn State won by a bunch, didn’t make many mistakes and played dominant defense. The grade gets a knock for the penalties and the three balls on the ground. Northwestern had some momentum and nothing to lose, but Penn State didn’t need this to be dramatic for as long as it was, final score or not. Nevertheless 5-0 is what it is.
