By Quintus McDonald
The Penn State Nittany Lions took the University of Massachusetts Minutemen apart in a matter of seconds this past Saturday in Beaver Stadium. The team overall looked rusty even listless at times. Other times they looked butter-knife sharp. The bottom line is they made it off the field with only a few bumps and bruises along with the 48-7 victory.
Of the three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special steams; the latter had the greatest level of victory, as it were. The “victories inside the victory” is what we discuss when grading and the special teams showed the most improvement this week. Let us begin the grading with the most improved.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
This group showed marked improvement, but because of the caliber of the opponent and the lack of consistency they only mustered a B-. PSU’s most consistent offensive weapon to date, Sam Ficken, was even bitten by the listless bug early in the game with a terrible low, short kick-off. He corrected himself and placed the remainder of them deep into the end zone for touch backs. A very poor snap was saved by an exceptional recovery and hold to help Ficken remain true on all field goal attempts for the day. Open field tackling remains a sore spot for the coverage groups, but good hang time helped make gang tackling effective.
Grade: B-
OFFENSE:
Point: 48 points by your offense is 48 points. Playing an outmatched opponent will always show something about the level of concentration and determination your group has. I must say that, as disappointed as I was with quarterback “Iceberg Hack’s” apparent rustiness, I wasn’t surprised. On a day with ideal weather conditions for throwing the football and stacking the passing statistics sheet, Christian Hackenberg’s concentration and accuracy was poor… very poor. I believe that as this young man matures as a leader and quarterback, he will take these opportunities to fine tune his game as well as his role as the team leader.
I was very impressed with the initial drive by the second team offense lead by quarterback D.J. Crook. This unit effectively moved the ball down field on a 70+ yard drive culminating in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Crook to tight end Brent Wilkerson. The most impressive component of this drive was Crook completing three third-down passes along the way. It excites me as a fan of college football to see young men taking advantage of their opportunity to shine on Saturday when they have worked so hard through the spring, summer, pre-season and game week. Hats off to Crook for the fine job he did with the opportunity he was given.
The offensive line gets a nod as the Nittany Lions sent three running backs into the end zone five times rushing the ball. This could give the unit some much needed confidence and show the coaching staff some techniques that they do well under the fire of game day.
Grade: B-
DEFENSE:
The defense gave up less points than the offense scored. Most of the time, that wins the football game. I, however, look for the victories inside the victory and on defense I only saw one. The entire defense ran to the ball relentlessly. That motor is an intangible that has already paid dividends in two of the first four games.
This group remains a less-than-average open field tackling unit. This is an area that must be improved upon in the very near future. The unit allowed eight first downs in the first half alone and only had fice three-and out-series all day.
The second unit played well in the second half with the exception of a mix-up in the defensive backfield coupled with poor pursuit angles. This yielded the lone touchdown for the Minutemen on an 83-yard catch-and-run.
Grade: C+
COACHING:
The Nittany Lions were able to win a game they were supposed to win. These are some of the most difficult weeks of practice for any coach. Your players are watching the film of the opponent and can see that on their best day, the opponent just doesn’t have the manpower that their team possesses. This is an opportunity for any number of negative things to happen, ie. not paying attention to detail, looking ahead to the next week’s opponent, reading the media and believing all the great things we say about them. It could easily become a cocktail for disaster.
Once again Coach James Franklin and his staff built a solid game plan, accomplished the goal of winning the game and managed to make it through without any major injuries.
Grade: B
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