I'll start today with a quick link to Black Shoe Diaries, who did a great job of explaining what kind of impact the reduced sanctions will have on recruiting. Let's just say, James Franklin has been let off his leash!
Last night the students partied on Beaver Avenue until roughly 1am in celebration of the news and it's safe to say Happy Valley is as happy as it's been in quite some time. Police say the gathering was simply a much needed celebration for these students and this community, and that it remained extremely peaceful throughout. I feel so happy for these students, but today they need to get back to class, and so do we; let's roll out some grades!
Offense
QB: (C+) Christian Hackenberg did not have one of his better days, and he knows it, but that's not going to hamper the sweet taste of victory. After the game he admitted, "we're just going to continue to improve, but at the end of the day, a win's a win." I really hope Penn State fans don't get jaded from having Hack. When your QB's "bad day" involves 22-36 passing for 319 yds and 3 TDs, that's a problem most teams would love to have. Still, there's those 2 interceptions on the goal line. They didn't turn into points for the Zips, but they kept 14 PSU points off the board. If Hackenberg can stop forcing throws and just take what the defense gives him, he's going to be the special player we all know he can be, maybe even better.
OL: (C-) It was another game of the same things from the offensive line. Pass protection was decent, as Hack only got sacked once, but the running game remains stagnant. Given that Penn State's star player is a QB, I guess this is the preferred problem to have. Either way, Herb Hand has been doing a great job given the circumstances, and he deserves a hand (see what I did there?) for his efforts. Based on recruiting, it looks like he's about to get a lot of help from some elite talent in the coming years. This could be a team strength as early as 2016.
RB: (D) Speaking of Coach Hand, he's actually the team's "run game coordinator," which is weird because it's not running backs coach Charles Huff, he's the "special teams coordinator." After this past Saturday's game, you certainly can't fault the two for trying as they got very creative by the end of the game, but no matter what they attempted, it didn't seem to work. To quote Bill Belton, "we've got to play better than that." With the O-line unable to create holes for Belton and Zwinak, 3rd string back Akeel Lynch was called upon to try his luck out of the Wildcat formation. It definitely seemed to be the best of a bunch of bad options, but it still wasn't exactly effective. Lynch finished the day as the team's leading rusher. It will be interesting to see what adjustments the coaches make this week in preparation for a very strong Rutgers defensive front.
WR: (A) It was another big day for Lewis and Hamilton who combined for 13 catches and 167 yds, but no TDs (although Bill Belton's TD counts towards receiving, so we'll put that here). Lewis was only 2 yds shy of the century mark. It would be nice for a 3rd target to emerge, but I'm fine with those two for now. Freshman Chris Godwin was the only other receiver to get in on the action making a single 12 yd grab. James Franklin seems antsy to get another freshman, Saeed Blacknall, into the game as well, but that hasn't materialized yet. Looks like De'Andre Thompkins is safe to continue redshirting for this year to preserve his eligibility down the road.
TE: (A+) With Breneman out for the season and Wilkerson clearly not making an impact, it looks like we're down to 3 tight ends. I'm ok with that considering that's still better than most teams have. Jesse James, Kyle Carter, and Mike Gesicki combined for 4 catches and 91 yds, and Jesse James sweetened the deal with 2 TDs. Combined with the receiving production and Hackenberg's arm, the passing game looks great for the foreseeable future. Even the offensive line has benefited from having these big bodies as back up blockers in pass protection. Now if only we could use our TEs as RBs... oh yeah, they tried that too (sort of) when Gesicki lined up at Fullback! Yep, it's gotten that weird.
Defense
DL: (A) These guys are proving each week that they are the strength of the defense. Coach Sean Spencer used 10 different guys on Saturday, dipping into the 3-deep. That just shows how much confidence he has in his linemen, even the backups, to come in and make plays. Anthony Zettel spent all day harassing and hurrying Akron QB Kyle Pohl and managed another sack, while backups Carl Nassib and Parker Cothren combined for a vicious sack of their own. The line has a big test this week containing Rutgers RB Paul James.
LB: (B) Overall another solid performance. Mike Hull lead the team again with 11 tackles, Nyeem Wartman again added 6, and Brandon Bell contributed 4 more. We still haven't seen freshmen Troy Reeder and Jason Cabinda, but as long as the starting 3 can hold down the fort, why even bother? They get dropped down to a B because they kept getting beat over the middle by the Akron dink-and-dunk strategy. However, they kept the Zips out of the endzone all day, and that's all that really matters.
DB: (B+) There was lots of good stuff in the secondary this week, but they really need to help the LBs protect the middle and get more turnovers. After two games, Penn State still hasn't gotten an interception. The + is mostly thanks to the excellent play of Jordan Lucas who had 7 tackles including 1 for a loss, a sack, and a pass breakup. He was flying all over the field making plays. Freshman Grant Haley has also been impressing lately; he added 2 tackles and a pass breakup to his personal stat line.
Special Teams
K: (A) Ficken made all the extra points, but wasn't needed to make any field goals this week. He misses the A+ because one of his kick offs went out of bounds. That's a big no-no in the world of kicking.
P: (A+) What more can we say about the sensational punting skills demonstrated by freshman Chris Gulla?! For the second week in a row, special teams stepped up in a big way. Gulla has the ability to "reverse the field" when called upon, and that will be invaluable come Big Ten play, which technically starts this week.
Today's bonus grade is an F for the new scoreboards. In the initial designs it appeared as if the video display would take up the entire scoreboard, and that would definitely justify the hefty multi-million dollar price tag. Looking at pictures from Saturday's game, though, I honestly don't see what's changed. The screens are filled at least 50 % with ads just like before, and as OnwardState pointed out, they don't actually have the score on them! In fact, they don't have any pertinent game information like a game clock, a play clock, or down and distance. Penn State athletics, you fail.
Well, that will do it for today. Check back tomorrow for the weekly award show, don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!
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