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Penn State Football: The Good and the Bad of the Nittany Lions’ 5-0 Start

Penn State enters the bye week at 5-0 with just a little bit of everything under the belt between wins on the road, wins against Big Ten teams and wins against the likes of Auburn. It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Nittany Lions are set for the toughest portion of the schedule in the coming weeks which will lead to little need for guess-work when it comes to figuring out what this Penn State team is or isn’t.

You can’t argue with the results, but like all things there’s the good and the bad.

THE GOOD

The Defense:

It practically goes without saying at this point but Penn State’s defense is keeping the whole operation afloat again this season and the Nittany Lions will be in every game they play this year because of it. This defensive group entered the season with more questions than usual but Abdul Carter’s emergence at linebacker has helped solidify that position while a handful of new and old names have given Penn State a formidable presence up front. Behind all of it sits a defensive back corps that seemingly has no weak point and a ball-hawking mentality that has resulted in Penn State leading the nation in passes defended. The Nittany Lions are prone to occasionally giving up a long third down conversion or the chunk play here or there – but all and all it’s hard to find much fault with this bunch. Time will tell as Penn State faces tougher opponents how good this defense really is, but it’s hard to question what Manny Diaz’s side of the ball has done in his first year as defensive coordinator at Penn State.

The Running Backs:

Penn State has struggled to run the ball for so long that it seemingly didn’t really matter who the running backs were going to be this year. That being said, a true freshman combination of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton has been a good one-two punch between [and around] the tackles. Both have shown real promise this year – Singleton with a home run ability – and Allen with a nose for the extra few yards with his excellent vision. The road ahead is paved with stiffer competition but if these two are as good as they appear to be, Penn State will be able to face the likes of Michigan and Ohio State with a much more balanced offensive attack. Seeing was going to be believing this season on the ground and so far Penn State has shown what fans were hoping to lay eyes on. A honorable mention here of course to Penn State’s offensive front which has generally played better in the running game than in years past. Didn’t take much, but that didn’t mean it was going to happen either. And it has so far.

Winning The Tough Ones:

The saying “they would have lost this game last year” is kind of cliche but between Penn State’s wins over Purdue and the slogging win over Northwestern – which was a reminder of last year’s loss to Illinois – the Nittany Lions have found ways to win the tough and ugly games. Beating Purdue in Week 1 was a legitimate quality victory and while Northwestern seemed hardly capable of moving the ball let alone scoring with it – letting a team hang around is how you lose to them and Penn State managed to avoid that outcome. Every team and season is different, so it’s impossible and pointless to really know what last year’s team would have done in those games, but winning close and occasionally ugly games sure beats the alternative. Penn State’s season might not be destined for greatness, but nobody would have been able to find out if the Nittany Lions had fallen short in one of these first five games.

Last Word: Overall this Penn State team is turning into more or less what you thought it was going to be. About the same on offense, solid on defense and picking up where it left off prior to quarterback Sean Clifford’s injury last season. The jury is still out with this lot overall, but better to be 5-0 and have something to lean on than 3-2 just trying the survive. Hasn’t always been sexy, but wins are wins.

THE BAD

Same Old Same Old:

To Sean Clifford’s credit he has been a plenty serviceable quarterback his entire career at Penn State. At the same time if there were hopes of seeing him avoid the occasional mistake, he’s made two entirely preventable ones so far this season. Playing quarterback is an imperfect job, so nobody is saying he has to be perfect, but one would hope for just a bit more decision-making leadership from the longtime starter. Clifford is good at a lot of things he doesn’t always get credit for, but take that next step has felt limited by some old habits. The proof will be in the pudding the next couple of weeks, but Clifford not developing just a tad further is perhaps equal parts unsurprising and a little disappointing. In turn Penn State’s offense is hot and cold, able to score at will at times and unable to get a first down at others. That’s not all on Clifford, but his limitations don’t help matters any. Clifford being Clifford isn’t the worst thing in the world if you want to win nine or 10 games, it’s just not the sot of thing that leads you to believe in that number going any higher.

Killer Instinct:

If this Penn State team is going to do anything of note in 2022 it will need to learn how to make the most of its opportunities and put teams down when it gets the chance. Of course with Michigan and Ohio State upcoming it’s fair to say that these chances may never come, but the best Penn State teams are the ones that have taken care of business and headed home. It’s probably a bit unfair to totally hold this against the Nittany Lions when it comes to the Northwestern game considering the conditions, but Northwestern was/is so bad and Penn State never really took advantage of that. End of the day, if you want to be a truly great team you have to find an extra gear and finish off teams with a killer instinct. This is maybe a whimsical complaint to have about Penn State that doesn’t really translate well into actionable thoughts, but nevertheless you don’t avoid bad losses if you’re ahead by 27 instead of 10.

Kicking It:

It’s not the most unreasonable thing in the world that Penn State has had troubles replacing the likes of Blake Gillikin and Jordan Stout from a kickoff perspective, and Barney Amor has been fantastic as a punter – but issues with field goals and extra points will absolutely come back to haunt Penn State in the coming weeks. Jake Pinegar steadied the ship a bit against Northwestern which was funny considering the weather, but otherwise this group has been a coin toss. Penn State will only be able to get away with this for so long and points will be at a premium against Michigan and Ohio State.

Last Word: Penn State is better than it gets credit for from some fans, but if the Nittany Lions lose two out of the next three games, the “why” won’t be that hard to guess.