Week 5 Grades

Yet another lackluster performance by the offense resulted in some less than stellar grades this week, especially considering the fact that Penn State won the game.  Over on the defensive side of the ball, though, it was business as usual, shutting down the prolific rushing attack of a team that only attempted to throw the ball once.  As I said, in the end the Nittany Lions prevailed and move to 4-1 on the season.  Hopefully with better weather comes better play, even more wins, and a decent bowl game.  For now, let's take things one game at a time and roll out some grades.

Offense
QB: (C-) Hackenberg went 10-19 for 156 yds and 1 TD with no INTs.  Some critics continue to question him, but the god's honest truth is that he's in a perfect storm of bad situations.  He's behind an epically bad offensive line, has a terrible play caller at Offensive Coordinator, has young receivers who don't get open, and he's had to play 3 of the last 4 games in the rain.  Pile on top of that all the injuries to key starters and I don't really care what his stats are; we got the win.  *On that note, BSD's Film Room this week takes a look at the "Hack sucks" theory and dispels it*

OL: (C) They let up another 3 sacks (although one was definitely on Hack for holding the ball too long), and the running game never really got going the way it had in past weeks.  Still, Hackenberg seemed to have more time to throw than usual, and that's behind a line missing its top two players.  We'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but this the last time.

RB: (C+) Just like the offensive line, this group is missing its top two players so they avoid a failing grade.  Nick Scott led the RBs with only 54 yds, but scored his first collegiate TD.  Third-stringer Johnathan Thomas was decent in limited action, and Mark Allen rounded out the group with 19 yds.  None of them can spark this offense the way Saquon Barkley can, so I think we're all hoping for his return asap.  Big Ten defenses will dominate these back ups if Barkley and Lynch are out for the year, and that could mean a long season for fans.

WR: (C-) Chris Godwin continues to lead this group with 4 catches for 66 yds, but directly behind him are two TEs and a RB.  That should give you a good indication of where the passing offense is at and it's not good.  After leading the Big Ten in receptions last year, Daesean Hamilton has basically disappeared.  He only had one catch all game, although it did come on a critical 4th down.  With all the problems on the offensive line, the WRs need to step up and get separation so Hackenberg has somewhere to throw the ball.  Otherwise, as I said before, it's going to be a long season.

TE: (B+) Why hello Brent Wilkerson!  The perennial fourth-stringer has slowly moved up to second place on the depth chart and he had two nice 7 yd catches against Army.  Those also happened to be his first catches of the season.  Mike Gesicki continues to make errors and drop balls, but like Nick Scott, he made his only catch of the game count by running it 33 yds for the score and his first collegiate TD, fittingly on his birthday.  Gesicki is huge, and insanely athletic.  If the staff ever learns to use him right, he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Defense
DL: (A) Another game, another opponent held under 300 yds of offense, and it's mostly because of the big boys up front.  This is especially true against an exclusively running team like Army.  Anthony Zettel, Torrence Brown, Austin Johnson, and Curtis Cothran all had 4 tackles a piece.  Meanwhile, Carl Nassib (who got his own piece on ESPN.com) only had 2 tackles, but his sack in this game skyrocketed him to tops in the nation in that category.  These guys are the only unit on the field that has consistently performed and somehow steered clear of injuries... as if you needed another reason to love them.

LB: (A+) Jason Cabinda is officially LinebackerU material!  The true sophomore set the standard against the Black Knights with a team-high 14 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble.  He was absolutely ridiculous!  Not far behind him was freshman Manny Bowen with 6 tackles and a fumble recovery.  Troy Reeder, Jake Cooper, and Von Walker combined for 9 more tackles and all played well in their own right.  The other big story with this group was the return of perpetually injured veteran Ben Kline.  If nothing else, he'll bring much needed experience to a very talented, but very young linebacking corps.

DB: (A-) Army literally threw one pass.  At first I didn't think it would be fair to grade a unit that wasn't tested at all... then I looked at the stats.  Apparently the corners and safeties blitzed all day because Jordan Lucas was 2nd on the team in tackles with 8, fellow safety Troy Apke had 5, CB Grant Haley had 4, and Malik Golden and Amani Oruwariye each had 2.  That's a lot of tackles!  They'll be tested through the air this week against Indiana, but it's good to see they can help out with the run when called upon too.

Special Teams
K: (A) Mr Consistency, aka Joey Julius, hit a 27 yarder and a 37 yarder along with 2 extra points.  The kid is good and a fan favorite. At least one part of the special teams is worth watching.

P: (F) Chris Gulla's 32 yd average and 11 yd shank were so bad the coaches replaced him with Danny Pasquariello near the end of the game (Pasky didn't fare much better).  Is Blake Gillikin on campus yet?

Today's bonus grade goes to the weather, which gets an F because I'm sick of this freaking rain!

Alright, that will do it for my Army coverage.  The real meat of the Big Ten schedule starts this weekend as the Indiana Hoosiers come to town for Homecoming 2015.  Be sure to check out my prediction post on Friday.  In the meantime, head on over to my Facebook page and give it a like or even a share.  Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @PSUOptimus, and as always, go State!