Offense: C+
This game is something of a puzzle to grade properly. On the one hand Penn State played far and away one of its better games in terms of pure stats but had very little show for it. Over 400 yards of offense was nearly triple what Ohio State had a week earlier. Penn State did a good job exploiting Michigan State in the flat and had a 100 yard rusher and receiver. The pick-6 was as bad luck as anything else and Kyle Carter’s fumble-6 was inches from not even happening.
But at the end of the day it’s not about how close you get to something good but how good you actually are. Penn State had a whale of a time getting points in the red zone and nearly came away with just three points with two trips inside the five. 5-of-15 third down conversions isn’t great but amazingly has been worse. The Nittany Lions went 3-and-out just once all game and had seven drives of 30+ yards, which all things considered is a high water mark for this group.
Penn State was never going to out score Michigan State in a shootout and that proved to be the case. Godwin’s 11 receptions went well with DaeSean Hamilton’s eight catches while Hackenberg went 22-of-39 for 257 yards and two scores and two interceptions.
Nittany Lions weren’t good enough, but they’ve played way worse which all things considered could have led to an even bigger losing margin if that’s even possible to imagine.
Hackenberg was only sacked twice, which is nothing if not unexpected given his frequent trips to the turf.
Defense: D
This is another area that is hard to grade. There is no doubt 55 points is about 25 too many in most cases, but at the same time it’s hard to grade out a defense missing its two starting defensive ends without pause. That’s not to say Carl Nassib and Garrett Sickels would have made a game changing difference, but there may not be 55 points on the board if they’re on the field. Add in an absent Jordan Lucas and a banged up group as a whole and you’re in a bad place. This grade is bad for two big reasons, tackling and a 8-of-11 mark on third down conversions. It’s one thing to be missing players, it’s another to simply struggle to slow a team down. Maybe easier said than done but it is what it is.
To his credit Jason Cabinda put up a 13 tackle effort while Malik Golden and Marcus Allen added 9 and six tackles respectively.
No tackles for a loss and no sacks is a first for the Nittany Lions this year. Although likely not the case if Sickels and Nassib are playing.
Special Teams: C
Tyler Davis made his kicks and punting proved to be effective with three for a 46.7 average and a long of 53 yards in a key endzone punt by Daniel Pasquariello. The Australian native also had one punt downed at the five. Koa Farmer had a shot to retake a returner duty after his fourth fumble of the year last week but still managed to fumble and lose the ball late in the game.
Special teams was far from the reasons why Penn State lost, and to a certain extent this unit pulled its weight more than usual which is good and bad news for Penn State.
Other: C
Penn State’s timeout situation made more sense this week and outside a few communication issues there weren’t too many head scratchers. The Nittany Lions can’t figure out how to put the ball in the endzone from up close, but at this point it almost doesn’t matter with one more game to go. Hackenberg had a few time management issues but again, somewhat secondary to bigger issues overall on Saturday. Penn State did a good job attack Michigan State in ways that were effective, that counts for something. The screen pass in the flat came back like it was 2014 and it worked.
Overall: C-
Penn State got steamrolled by a team it never really should have beat. In the first place. The Nittany Lions’ biggest mistakes came when the game was already over and 400+ yards of offense against this Michigan State defense is nothing to laugh at. This grade and all of these grades are a balance between Penn State being able to say “We could have done better” and the reality that Michigan State is just really good and Penn State can only do so much with what it has.
