Handing Out the Grades Following Penn State’s Win over Northwestern

Penn State is 5-0 after an up-and-down start to the season that saw the Nittany Lions win at home, on the road, in blowout fashion and in the last minutes. Saturday afternoon they added horrible weather to the resume in a turnover-happy outing that left everyone glad to be moving on to bigger and better things. Taking the weather into consideration makes grades complicated, but nevertheless here they are.

Offense: C-

These are really the kinds of games that are impossible to grade because the weather is so bad it completely changes the complexion of how teams perform. On the one hand you have a hard time giving a good grade to an offense that turned the ball over five times. Equally true it seems improbable to think that historically awful weather and historically awful ball security are somehow not related.

All the same this has to get better. Even if it’s a problem that popped up somewhat unexpectedly on Saturday [Penn State lost five fumbles all last year and had yet to lose a fumble this season] it still can’t hold true if the weather is bad in a game against an opponent with anything approaching a pulse. Sean Clifford didn’t need to throw for 400 yards in this game but he needed to hit his targets and avoid throwing absolutely awful interceptions – he didn’t really manage to do either.

That being said on a day when Penn State needed to run the ball it was able to do so outside of the flood of fumbles. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both had 21 carries and each had just under 90 yards each to show for it while Penn State racked up 220 yards on the ground. Penn State went 4-for-15 on third down but was a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone. Even with all the turnovers the Nittany Lions managed 360 yards of offense and was by all measures the better team.

Parker Washington was a bright spot in the receiving game with four catches for 73 yards while tight end Brenton Strange continues to make a case to being Penn State’s most consistent offensive threat even if he had just one catch on one target – a beauty of a 20 yard touchdown reception. Honorable mention to this group for a 3-for-3 mark on fourth down on a day long field goals weren’t going to be a thing. When it was all said and done this was an ugly day but a win is a win and the ground game showed up, even if it couldn’t hang on to the ball. [Penn State finished the day scoring on three of its eight drives that didn’t end with a turnover.] Keyvone Lee also had a throwback game with 40 yards on 10 physical carries.

Defense: A

Penn State’s defense showed up on Saturday and once again bailed out a struggling offensive attack. This was a day that was always going to favor defenses but Penn State took it up another level holding Northwestern to a three-and-out or turnover on each of its first five drives and gave up just three drives all game that lasted longer than five plays. Defensive tackle PJ Mustipher led the way with eight tackles while Ji’Ayir Brown had a team-high five solo tackles to his name. Northwestern was on the field for just 22 minutes and had just 31 rushing yards to show for it.

The Wildcats caught this group sleeping a bit in the second half but a 4-for-15 mark on third down and a goal line stop help this grade. It says a lot about this defense that “sometimes gives up points and yards” makes it feel like it’s coming up short. The Nittany Lions forced three turnovers of their own on a turnover happy day and giving up just 3.7 yards per play is hardly anything to get upset about.

Special Teams: A

For a group that has struggled all season it really managed to show up in the worst conditions and put together a really solid outing. Barney Amor continued his great punting with four of his five punts downed inside the 20 with two of those downed inside the 10. Jake Pinegar added a 38-yarder to his resume in the fourth quarter while going perfect on extra point attempts. Penn State had good protection for all of its kickers and aside from a 19-yard punter return, didn’t give up much of anything else all day. These sorts of conditions are really about not coughing up the ball, and Penn State made all its kicks and didn’t muff a single punt, so fair play to Parker Washington for that. A 12-yard punt return was also a nice bit of work for him on a slippery track.

Coaching: C+

Penn State had seven penalties on Saturday which was a bit of a surprise for a group that has not had tons of penalty issues the past few years. That being said, penalties are never a good look. Aside from those mistakes it’s hard to know the best way to approach a game like this from the coaching grade perspective. Penn State won, looked like the better team and really only struggled to put Northwestern away because it couldn’t stop coughing up the ball. Mike Yurcich called a solid game all things considered and Penn State’s first touchdown was a thing of beauty from him. This grade is maybe a bit harsh, but Northwestern is awful and Penn State played down to that a bit – bad weather or not.

Overall: B-

Penn State won an ugly game, rushed for 220 yards and played lights out defense. An early inability to close this game out early and the turnovers are really the only truly bad mark on a soggy outing.