Penn State is your 2023 Rose Bowl champion, and if you think that means the grades are good then you’d be correct. The Nittany Lions weren’t perfect on Monday but beating a Top 10 team away from home and doing it with style points isn’t a sentence Penn State has been able to say very often. Here are the grades as a result.
Offense: A
Well would you look at that. Utah entered Monday afternoon’s contest with a “good but not elite” defense and Penn State took advantage of it. After a slow opening two drives, the Nittany Lions were crisp and did about as much as you reasonably could expect them to, scoring five touchdowns over the span of seven drives. Sean Clifford was outstanding with his deep passes after missing Mitchell Tinsley early on, and Nicholas Singleton busted another long Penn State rushing touchdown at the Rose Bowl. Clifford ends the year with just seven interceptions to his name and really a solid final season on his resume behind a legacy win to close it all out. Penn State averaged 8.3 yards per play on offense and managed to win despite racking up just 14 first downs. A 7-for-13 mark on third down sure helped the cause, as too did KeAndre Lambert-Smith having a second-straight strong performance with three catches for 124-yards and a touchdown.
For his part, Tinsley had six catches for a less explosive but no less important 49 yards and a touchdown. Singleton racked up 120-yards on just seven carries to continue his growing reputation as a home run hitter. Kaytron Allen was far less effective in this game and appeared very interested in trying to bounce runs outside. That’s a bit of an early season habit which had seemed to have gone by the wayside during his midseason run of success between the tackles. Penn State was a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone, which pushes the Nittany Lions’ overall season ranking to fourth-best in the nation when it comes to touchdown % from inside the 20.
448 yards, 35 points and a balanced rushing and passing attack, especially in the first half, help this grade. The Nittany Lions also cranked out five drives of 47 yards or better. Three sacks and a few drops are really the only blemishes on Penn State’s day offensively.
Defense: B+
In many respects, Penn State deserves some credit for holding a team that scores 40 points a game to just 21, and really just 14 when the game was still a game. This grade takes an immediate knock for two reasons: tackling and a few missed opportunities to get off the field. It also ought to be said from the outset that Utah is very good and that very good teams make very good plays. The Utes ability to move the ball is not a reflection of poor defense as much as a reflection of good offense. Utah quarterback Cam Rising was exceptionally fun to watch at quarterback with both his arm and his legs, but the moment he left the game with an injury it was the Nittany Lion defense that smelled blood in the water. Nine tackles for a loss and six sacks highlighted the defensive effort, as well as two really nice interceptions by corner Kalen King and safety Ji’Ayir Brown. Brown led the way with eight tackles and 1.5 sacks in his final game as a Nittany Lion. Linebacker standout Abdul Carter had just one tackle but defensive end Adisa Isaac had five tackles and two for a loss in one of his better performances of the year.
Utah went 11-for-18 on third down despite averaging 7.7 yards to gain per third down and that doesn’t help the cause any. Penn State seemed to be the better overall team entering the second half but the loss of Rising does put a “what if?” dynamic to the rest of the game. That being said, Rising doesn’t play defense, and the Nittany Lions carved up the Utes in the final 30 minutes of regulation. Also to Penn State’s credit, Rising spent no small portion of the game running for his life; he just made enough plays with his legs and arm to make up for it at times. All told the Nittany Lions made stops, forced turnovers and held a talented offensive team to 14 points in the first half. The tackling needed to be better, but a win is a win, especially against a Top 10 team.
Special Teams: B
In a perfect world special teams either makes a play that changes the game or avoid the mistakes that do the same for the other team. Penn State’s return unit has shown flashes that something might be there in the future but for now this group continues a fairly no-news-is-good-news status. Barney Amor had three of his five kicks downed inside the 20, including a stop on the goal line by long snapper Chris Stoll. Amor’s 46.4 punting average was a welcome sight for Penn State in this game and Utah started just one drive beyond its own 25. You can’t argue with that. Penn State meanwhile started four drives of note well beyond its own 25. This grade is lower because it wasn’t a special day for special teams, but it also wasn’t a bad day either.
Coaching: A
It says something about how good Penn State ended up being this year that it can face a Top 10 team that isn’t Ohio State or Michigan and look as equals if not better for the vast majority of the contest. It’s probably a good sign that given the chance to face a Top 10 team that doesn’t have the advantage of being in the Big Ten and all the knowledge that comes with familiarity that Penn State’s coaching staff was ready for the moment. In an expanded playoff world, beating new things and new looks is crucial to success. Utah found some stuff that worked — particularly with motion — that gave Penn State a hard time, but a quality team finding ways to gain yards isn’t the same thing as Penn State coaching poorly on the other side of the ball. Aside from an early fourth down call that Penn State opted to punt on, there weren’t really any coaching errors in this game of decisions that didn’t make sense.
Overall: A
At the end of the day Penn State played a Top 10 team at a neutral site — arguably a Utah home(ish) game — and came away looking the better team in all three phases. Rising getting hurt changed the complexion of the game in the second half but Penn State’s offense made plays, the defense got home to the quarterback and Utah never had a chance to get its balance again. Wins are wins, and good football is good football.
