Penn State offense might be full of things to be critical of but the Nittany Lions’ defense was among the best in the nation for a reason last year. 2024 might mean a lot of new faces on this side of the ball but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at one of the best groups the program has ever fielded. Starting today it’s coverage units – safeties and corners.
The Grade: B+
The Good: Penn State finished the year with the nation’s No. 7 passing defense, was one of the best teams at not giving up big plays and fielded reliable options at every position. Coverage is a difficult thing to asses sometimes because often the best players simply aren’t targeted by offenses. Kalen King entered the year as one of the best corners in the game and had a somewhat quiet season, but that is equal parts a good thing and a bad thing. This grade is so good in part because Penn State really didn’t play poorly in coverage, even if it didn’t have quite the explosiveness and game-changing impact some fans may have been hoping for. Kevin Winston Jr led Penn State at safety with 61 tackles, Jaylen Reed came in at 5th on that list. Penn State’s defense got off the field quickly more often than not, all you can really ask for, even if that hurts the stats at times.
The Not So Good: You can’t ignore the Peach Bowl performance but it’s hard to knock this group too much for suddenly missing two of its biggest pieces in King and Johnny Dixon. Ole Miss played great and Penn State didn’t – that might have been true no matter what – but you can’t give a full grade for half a unit. That being said, Penn State led the nation (tied, technically) in passes defended last season and finished 100th in that department this season (99 passes defended compared to 45 this year). A lot of things played into this both in and out of Penn State’s control, but for as good as this group was on paper, it wasn’t as ball-hawking as it has been in year’s past. 12 interceptions is 39th best in the county, so some credit there. Also as noted above, you can’t rack up the stats if you aren’t on the field. Penn State’s defense finished the year having faced 774 plays, 63 away from the fewest in the nation. Penn State’s defense hadn’t faced fewer than 850 snaps under James Franklin up until this season.
The Ohio State game is probably the only legitimate bad moment for Penn State’s coverage at full capacity – 286 yards on 62.9% completion rate – but Marvin Harrison Jr was among the best receivers in the nation last season and did a lot of his damage after the catch. Penn State had eight games giving up sub-200 yards passing, but it also gave up nearly 700 yards through the air in two of the biggest games of the year between the Buckeyes and Ole Miss. All told there isn’t a glaringly bad aspect of this unit, it just wasn’t overwhelmingly great relative to what some may have expected. Penn State opponents completed 60% or more of their passes in each of the final seven games of the year. Getting the ball out quick? Sure, there’s that too.
Overall: Of all the issues Penn State may have had at the year’s end, defense wasn’t one of them. Penn State may have expected more from this unit in 2023, but it’s hard to say it was underwhelming either. Struggling at times against Ohio State hurts, but if you hold anyone to 20 points you should have a better chance to win than Penn State did that day. That particular issue was on the offense.
See all of the Positional Grades HERE.
