Penn State Football: Handing Out The Grades Following A 37-21 Win Over SDSU

Offense: B

There are a few ways to look at Penn State’s performance on the offensive side of the ball. On the one hand the Nittany Lions scored on three straight drives early in the game and had 27 points at the half. Which a positive in nearly every instance.

Saquon Barkley scored an electric 22-yard catch and run and had 66-yards on 8 carries prior to twisting his ankle on an equally electric juke and spin. Saeed Blacknall had four catches for 101 yards and Christian Hackenberg tossed for 328 and three TDs on a somewhat pedestrian outing despite his numbers. All of those stats should have lead to an easier looking victory.

On the other hand Penn State did very little in the second half. Just three points and little aggression after a promising opening 30 minutes. It’s not a requirement to score lots of points every half, but a few scores could have ended the game a lot sooner.

To their credit the Nittany Lions only went 3-and-out on three occasions Saturday but still only converted three of 15 opportunities. Hackenberg also completed two passes to at least six different targets. The tight ends even got involved with five catches for 58-yards including a 35-yard seam route to the often invisible Kyle Carter.

Somewhere in here it’s worth mentioning that Chris Godwin had five receptions, a touchdown, two tackles and a recovered fumble. For those of you new to this, that’s unusual.

To be sure there were far more positives than negatives, but Penn State could have and probably should have done more. A few second half scores and this is a much better final grade. 

Defense: A-

Penn State picked up five sacks and had nine tackles for a loss in a grind-it-out performance on Saturday. With a fairly patchwork secondary following the loss of Jordan Lucas and Marcus Allen, Penn State did a decent job keeping SDSU in check. San Diego State’s lone passing touchdown of the day was a product of great athleticism more than anything else.

A short drive off a muffed punt led to another six points and that falls on special teams more than the defense. Penn State gave up just two drives of over 50-yards all game and a good number of SDSU’s total 242 yards of offense when the game was already decided.

All in all between the work the defensive line put in and the way a makeshift secondary was able to function this grade is lowered only because of the long drives. Anthony Zettel put in a brave performance the day following his father’s passing with seven tackles, a recovered fumble and half a sack. On top of that when it’s all said and done Carl Nassib ought to have a share of the nation’s lead in sacks or close to it.

Donne Pumphrey ran for 62 yards on 18 carries but he earned just about every yard thanks to a beating by Penn State’s defense.

Troy Reeder also continues to hit anything that moves and isn’t wearing his colors.

Special Teams: D

To his credit Joey Julius did his part, hitting three of four field goals with his only miss being a 55-yarder that was blocked. In that light he deserves some recognition for stepping up when his name was called.

But Julius also sent a kickoff out of bounds and in some fashion is at least partially responsible for a 100-yard touchdown return. Couple that with a muffed punt and horrible punting and it wasn’t the right kind of special for this unit. Maybe not deadly against SDSU but not optimal against a better opponent.

All of this is strangely fitting after Penn State’s special teams unit was the star of the show last week against Rutgers. Chris Gulla went from Mr Automatic with the punting to an inconsistent outing that ended with a 42-yard average but far more less than stellar punts en route. Things seemed to regress to the mean after a solid week.

Penn State’s special teams didn’t cost the Nittany Lions the game, but a blocked field goal, a turnover, a 100-yard return kind of make it hard to give out a good grade.

Every unit on this team has had a down week so special teams may has well have its turn now. 

Overall: B

After scoring 27-points in the first half and looking like the better team for nearly a full 30 minutes this game could have been over far sooner than it was. If Penn State just puts up a few more points a bit earlier in the third quarter and this grade is an A. The defense overcame some injuries, the offense scored points and if not for a fumble and a return the special teams would have at least avoided catastrophe.

But that’s not what happened. Penn State’s offense didn’t do much in the second half and a muffed punt closed the gap to just six points. As fun as it is to watch, it’s not ideal when a defensive tackle is scoring game-sealing points.

So was it a good afternoon for Penn State? All in all, yes. But it could have been better, and therefore so could the grade.