Week 14 Grades

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m still kind of coming down from Penn State’s epic upset win over Wisconsin on Saturday and actually the entire day of college football.  It was all just an incredible way to end the regular season.  This is one of the best times of the year, in my opinion, as Rivalry Week gives way to Championship Week (with a few Big 12 games sprinkled in) and eventually the Bowl Season.  Unfortunately, the NCAA has barred Penn State from competing in most of those festivities, but that won’t stop the fun here on the blog.  Let’s just get right into it and roll out some grades! 

*Note: there’s some important news items at the bottom of this post.  If you want to skip right to those, go ahead.

Offense

QB: (A+) Christian Hackenberg saved his best performance for last as he went an amazing 21/30 for 339 yds and 4 TDs.  Most importantly he didn't throw a single interception and to top it all off, he didn't even get sacked!  I cannot wait to see what a full offseason under O’Brien will turn this kid into come 2014.  It’s going to be ridiculous.

OL: (F) As you can tell by Hackenberg’s numbers, the line pass protected well enough on Saturday, but the running game never got going.  Moreover, the bigger reason for a failing grade was the 8 false starts, 4 by Donovan Smith alone.  Coach Mac was visibly frustrated on the sideline to the point that the announcers kept pointing him out.  You guys are going to give the old man a stroke playing like that!

RB: (D) If you take away Zwinak’s 61 yd dash in the 4^th quarter, he went a mere 54 yds on 21 rushes.  Belton didn't do much better only going 7 yds on 3 rushes.  Maybe it was the offensive line, maybe it was the cold weather, either way the running game failed to meet expectations.

WR: (A) With the running game seemingly out of commission, Penn State gladly took to the air.  Robinson continued to do what he does best, catching 8 passes for 122 yds but still no TDs.  Thankfully, Geno Lewis decided to show up.  He only caught 3 passes, but that translated into 91 yds and 2 TDs!  Richy Anderson also grabbed 2 passes for 16 yds.  I expect those two to breakout next year along with a slew of true and redshirt freshman waiting in the wings.

TE: (A+) Even better than the WR play was the TE play.  All 3 starters got into the action as they combined for 7 catches, 105 yds, and 2 TDs.  Breneman alone has now caught a TD pass in his last 3 games.  None of the TEs are graduating which means the Big Ten is on notice for next year… this trio is going to turn heads.

Defense

DL: (A) Wisconsin came into Saturday’s contest averaging just under 300 yds/game thanks to 2 running backs who each averaged over 100 yds/game.  All of that was made possible by the largest (by average weight) offensive line in the conference.  Yet none of that mattered as the Badgers were held to a season-low 120 yds on 30 attempts and no TDs.  You can thank an absolutely suffocating defensive line for those stats.  Kyle Baublitz lead the line with 4 tackles including 1 for a loss.  Anthony Zettel only had 2 tackles, but both were for a loss.  And then there was C.J. Olaniyan who may have been the best of all as he racked up 3 tackles (all quarterback hurrys) and even managed to “intercept” a tipped ball which he almost ran back for a TD.

LB: (A) It’s a pretty good sign when 3 of your top 4 tacklers are linebackers.  Mike Hull, Brandon Bell, and Glenn Carson combined for 18 tackles and were a big part of Penn State’s victory.  Brandon Bell has looked really good in recent weeks and was the player that tipped Joel Stave’s “pass” leading to C.J. Olaniyan’s interception.  He’s definitely a player to watch next season.

DB: (A+) The much maligned Penn State secondary has gotten noticeably better over the past few weeks and they may have had their best showing on Saturday.  Ryan Keiser had 5 tackles, 2 pass breakups, and his 2^nd game winning interception of the season.  Jordan Lucas, Trevor Williams, Malcolm Willis, and Malik Golden combined for 13 more tackles, 3 more pass breakups, and Williams also stole an interception.  Is this what we have to look forward to next year?  Because I'm down!

Special Teams

K: (D) Sam Ficken had another rough day (although not nearly as bad as Alabama’s kicker) as he missed 2/3 FGs.  The only thing saving him from a failing grade was that he hit all 4 of his extra points.  Hopefully another offseason and maybe some more words of advice from Robbie Gould and he’ll be back to Mr. Automatic again by September.

P: (C) Not a great day for Alex Butterworth either.  Once again he had one of his punts blocked and none of the 4 punts he got off were exactly “booming.”  Butterworth is not only a senior, he’s the only punter on the roster.  I’m interested to see how the coaching staff figures this one out for next year.

Tomorrow’s Awards post will wrap up the regular season here at Prime Penn State Football.  I’m still deciding what I’m going to do in the offseason, but rest assured there will be more than enough news to post regularly.  Let me know what you want to read about by emailing me at PSUOptimus@gmail.com, whether it’s recruiting news, position battles, coaching changes, whatever.  I’ll be more than happy to look into it for you and break it down in my own special way!

Now as promised, here's some Penn State football news that's been floating around the interwebs.

Good News:

- Congratulations to Allen Robinson on winning his second consecutive Richter-Howard Big Ten Receiver of the Year Award!  This is just the 2^nd year of this award, so technically he’s the only player in history to ever win it.  Robinson’s 97 catches for 1,432 yds are both Penn State single-season records, although his measly 6 TDs is not.

- Congratulations to Christian Hackenberg on winning the Big Ten Freshman of the Year Award!  Hackenberg also won Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Sunday for the 5^th time this season.  He finished the year 231 of 392 (59%) with 20 TDs and 10 INTs.  He was second in the Big Ten in completions and one off the lead for TDs.  His 2,955 total yds puts him 3^rd on the Penn State single-season yardage list behind Matt McGloin (2012) and Daryll Clark (2009). 

- Finally, congratulations to John Urshel and Da’Quan Jones who, along with Robinson, were named 1^st-Team All Big Ten!  9 other Penn State players were honorable mentions.

Bad News:

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the retirement (at least, that’s the rumor) of Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden.  Coach Vanderlinden came to Penn State in 2001 from Maryland and is almost solely responsible for the resurgence of “Linebacker U.”  Since arriving he has produced some of the best linebackers in Penn State history – and that’s saying something!  Linebacker is by far the most well represented position group for former Penn State players in the NFL.  Sean Lee, Paul Posluszny, Dan Connor, Cameron Wake, Navarro Bowman, Mike Mauti, Gerald Hodges, Nate Stupar (as well as former players like LaVar Arrington) were all coached by Vanderlinden and are all impact players for their respective teams.  I think it’s safe to say that I speak for all of Nittany Nation when I say, we’ll miss you Coach Vanderlinden and we’re very sad to see you go!