Penn State Football: Handing Out The Grades Following Penn State’s Loss To Illinois

The good news for fans, there are only two more games left in the 2014 edition of Penn State football.

Even if you understand the challenges the Nittany Lions face each week there is an undeniable truth that Penn State has been a difficult team to watch this season if you enjoy good football.

And so while fans could painfully see the apparent win against Illinois slowly slip away from the Nittany Lions in the game’s final minute there is still plenty of football left to prepare for. The regular season finale and bowl game await. 

How did Penn State’s units grade out this week? Not well.

Offense: C-

It was something of a Twilight Zone movie as Christian Hackenberg passed the ball only 16 times on Saturday with 8 completions. In a lot of ways Hackenberg looked as solid as he has in a while but a few misplaced long balls and at least two drops hurt his cause on Saturday. An awkward hit on Hackenberg’s knee late in the first half seemed to limit his action in the second 30 minutes of play, but with only 5 pass attempts in the second half it’s hard to know how much it impacted his passing.

In a similar vein Penn State’s receivers did little to get open for Hackenberg on Saturday. As a result the offense came away with more coverage sacks than receptions. The blame will always go on the guy holding the ball, but Hackenberg’s receivers have to do better.

A positive, perhaps the lone one, is the emergence of Akeel Lynch as a viable option in the offensive plan of attack. His 47 yard run and score was a great feat that included a cutback that would make any running back proud. Lynch’s performance was the second 100 yard game in a row for him with 137 yards on 28 carries. Lynch figures to be the primary back next season and beyond so that era may as well start now.

Penn State’s offensive line wasn’t great on Saturday but it wasn’t the biggest issue — even a 6-for-15 third down conversion rate was a better than average mark.

Overall though Penn State’s offense wasn’t consistent enough in any single area to move the ball against a team that has done nothing but let teams do just that. It’s hard to give a favorable grade as a result.

Defense: B-

Illinois isn’t very good, and wasn’t really that good on Saturday either. For the majority of the game the Illini took the field and promptly walked off three plays later. Penn State’s defense held Illinois to only 2-of-16 on third down and just under 230 yards of total offense until the game’s final drive.

On the one hand you have to think that any team holding Illinois to 13 points over the course of 58 minutes of play has a pretty good shot at winning. On the other hand, facing a long field and a team with little offense to speak of a 7 play, 54 yard drive is a hard way to go out with a loss. 

If Penn State’s offense capitalizes on short fields or even moves the ball on long ones it’s hard to really knock the effort Penn State’s defense put up on Saturday. It wasn’t the worst all around performance by this unit and the final drive hurts the grade, but even a 75% effort by this defense should be good enough to beat most teams.

Freshman receiver Mike Dudek ran all over an otherwise talented secondary and single handedly carried Illinois with 115 yards of offense. His long reception on the final drive against the zone defense was a big one, and it hurt Penn State’s final grade.

Special Teams: D+

The wind got a hold of an Illinois kickoff to start the second half and somehow the Illini ended up with the ball. While the ball does weird things in the wind, Penn State’s special teams unit has to be more aware of the situation in conditions like that. Add in a botched snap on a Sam Ficken field goal and that’s a 6 point swing. It resulted in three points on the ensuing Illinois drive after the kickoff and 3 points on a missed field goal that would have made it 10-0 early in the game. While Penn State had solid punting and kick coverage all day, 6 points in a game where the winning team scored only 16 is a big deal.

In tough punting conditions Daniel Pasquariello was solid at a 39 yard per punt clip and a 49 long. With 7 punts on the day all of them went well for Penn State and that hasn’t always been the case for the punting unit. That’s the only plus for this D.