Week 6 Grades

We are exactly half way through the 2014 season and we're back on our second bye week.  Good thing too, as everyone tries to pick up the pieces and figure out exactly what went wrong in Ann Arbor.  Things have gotten so bad that some writers are questioning whether or not the Nittany Lions can even win 2 more games and go to a long awaited and well deserved bowl game.  With Temple and Illinois left on the schedule I'm not going that far just yet.  Still, it's concerning.

But before we begin we have some sad recruiting news.  There haven’t been too many positive story lines to come out of the recruiting process for Penn State lately, and unfortunately today will be no exception.  3-star safety Myles Hartsfield has been dropped by the Penn State coaching staff.  The move comes on the heels of a football scandal currently engulfing Hartsfield's high school Sayreville War Memorial in New Jersey.  If you aren't familiar with the story, the football team's entire season has been cancelled pending an investigation into alleged hazing and sexual abuse of underclassmen by upperclassmen (like Hartsfield).  Given that James Franklin just got finished testifying last week in a rape trial against five of his former Vanderbilt players, it's pretty obvious why the coaches were forced to make this decision.  Hartsfield was one of the lowest rated prospects in the 2015 class, so thankfully this isn't the end of the world, but it still caused Penn State's overall class ranking to drop down to #10 in the nation.  Can we PLEASE get some good recruiting news soon?  This is starting to get really depressing.  Anyway, let's move on and roll out some grades!

Offense

QB: (C-) After six games, teams pretty much know where they stand.  For example, we know what's going on with the offensive line, but at some point, that needs to stop being an excuse.  Hackenberg looks scared shitless on nearly every play, especially compared to the incredible poise he showed last season.  That may be understandable given the hits he's taken but it's no reason to just drop back and stand there like a deer in headlights.  Overall he seems to have simply lost his pocket awareness.  When he sees pressure coming he either braces for impact and takes the sack, or if a defender catches him he focuses on breaking the tackle instead of making the throw.  Hey Christian, you're a pocket passer, not a duel-threat.  Keep your eyes down field and get rid of the damn ball!  Oh, and when you do throw the ball, could you please stop throwing it at everyone's feet?

OL: (F-) This is the second game in a row that I am giving this group an F-, which isn't even a real grade.  If I could find a worse grade, they would get it.  Halfway through the season Hackenberg has been sacked a whopping 20 times, and that's just the official number.  That doesn't include hurries, pressures, and forced scrambles.  Here's another situation where excuses need to stop.  We get it, you're extremely inexperienced due in large part to the NCAA sanctions, but you're still Division I football players at one of the traditional power schools.  You have elite facilities, a state of the art weight room, and a proven coach in Herb Hand.  Get it together already!

RB: (D) Here we have another unit that is unfairly dependent on the offensive line.  We know they can be good because they proved it the last 2 seasons.  Nevertheless, this could be arguably the worst rushing attack Penn State has ever fielded.  That's not an exaggeration.  The Penn State football program was built on strong defensive and an excellent ground game, so it's always been there, but we only have half of that equation right now.

WR: (B-) The lone saving grace here was Daesean Hamilton who continues to impress and finally got his much deserved first career TD!  Meanwhile, the rest of this group came out flat and never recovered.  Chris Godwin and Saeed Blacknall were completely ineffective with additional playing time and the coaching staff refused to put Geno Lewis in the game until late in the 3rd quarter.  Lots of pundits are starting to claim we don't have enough offensive weapons, but I disagree.  We just have no way to accurately judge their abilities until Hack is given time to get them the ball.

TE: (C+) Apparently, you wouldn't know it from watching the game (as evidenced by the people complaining online), but Jesse James actually had 3 catches for 25 yards.  At the mid-season point, he's done enough on the field to stay on the Mackey Award watch list, given to the nation's top TE.  It's incredible to think what his monstrous size, strength, and athleticism could do if he weren't stuck helping the offensive line block all the time.  The same could be said for Mike Gesicki, who added 2 catches, and Kyle Carter, who had 1.

Defense

DL: (A) As I mentioned in the Wrap Up yesterday, the defense is completely holding this team together right now.  Anthony Zettel continued his dominance on Saturday and is starting to really pick up a lot of media attention.  Deion Barnes and C.J. Olaniyan are a terrifying duo from the edge, and massive 6' 4", 302 lbs Austin Johnson cleans up the middle.  Even more impressive is the depth.  Four different backups combined for 5 tackles, 2 for a loss, and a sack.  All of that is after sacrificing 2 guys to the offensive line!

LB: (A) I'm just about out of nice things to say about Mike Hull.  The man is a tackling freak and proudly upholding the Linebacker U tradition.  Once again, as I predicted, he led the team in tackles by a wide margin with 11.  His body slam sack came on a crucial 3rd down and he also got 2 tackles for a loss and even a pass breakup!  Nyeem Wartman was back to his old self, collecting 6 tackles of his own after being out with an arm injury 2 weeks ago.  This is what a unit living up to the standard in spite of their depth issues looks like... are watching offensive line?!  Well, are you?!

DB: (A-) The defensive backs join the rest of the defense in getting straight A's, possibly for the first time ever on this blog (I'm too lazy to check)!  Jordan Lucas looked great with 7 tackles, good enough for second on the team, to go along with his 2 pass breakups.  Adrian Amos and Trevor Williams also looked good with a combined 5 tackles.  Ryan Keiser's missed interception gets the group a minus, though, because it was stolen by Michigan's Devin Funchass for a TD.  That interception wins us the game.  No pressure next time guys.

Special Teams

K: (A) Ficken nailed both of his FGs, his lone extra point, and even accomplished one of the coolest things in kicking - an onside kick!  And we would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling refs!

P: (C) Gulla had at least 2 shanked punts in possibly his worst performance to date.  He was completely useless in helping Penn State "flip the field" and pin Michigan deep.  Jesse Della Valle had an amazing punt return, that was called back for an illegal block in the back.  Yet more shenanigans by the officiating crew (more on that tomorrow).

As a bonus grade this week, I'm giving the offensive coaching staff a big fat F!  Offensive Coordinator John Donovan has no idea what he wants to do with this offense and seems content to just throw random plays out there and see what sticks instead of coming up with a comprehensive strategy or game plan.  The results speak for themselves.  He needs to stop all the nonsense like the wildcat and all the deep balls, and switch to short, high-percentage passes.  There are plenty of capable WRs and TEs to accomplish this and maybe it will back the defense up a little to give the running game some room.  This isn't rocket science!  Think Case Keenum and Houston when they embarrassed our stout defense back in 2011 in Penn State's last bowl game.  It's the exact same formula Bill O'Brien utilized the last two seasons and it generated two conference-leading passers in Matt McGloin and the aforementioned Hackenberg.  We already know about Franklin's relationship with O'Brien, so why not give him a call and get some advice on how to get this offense moving again?  They've tried everything else already, so it couldn't hurt.

Alright folks, that will do it for today.  Check back tomorrow for the weekly awards show.  Be sure to check out my new Facebook fan page.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!