Week 10 Grades

We finally did it!  Penn State has made it to their bye week!  After 10 grueling weeks in a row, the grind of the season clearly took its toll on the Nittany Lions.  They couldn't get it done and finish off Northwestern, despite clinging to a 1 point lead in the final minutes.  In the end, they fell to the Wildcats, 23-21.  Every player on the team will now get some much needed rest before a brutal final two games against the Michigan schools.  We'll get to that more next Friday, but for now, let's roll out some grades!  

Offense

QB: (D/B+) I think this is the first time I've ever given out two grades to the same position.  The simple fact is Christian Hackenberg was a completely different QB in the 1st half (1 of 10) than he was in the 2nd half (20 of 30).  All told he threw for 205 yds with no TDs, but he did throw his first interception in what seems like forever (and only his 3rd of the year).  With the way he's played of late, I want to be optimistic that he's trending upwards... against the Wolverines and Spartans, though?  Baring a miracle, Hack will most likely end the season on a sour note.  But hey, there's always the bowl game!  

OL: (B) They couldn't get a solid push when they needed to in the run game.  However, in pass protection, the big uglies up front have gotten better each week.  Hackenberg is no longer running for his life, and for the most part he had more than enough time to make his reads throughout Saturday's contest.  The only problem is he wouldn't get rid of the ball!  Those kinds of mental errors reflect poorly on the offensive line, but they shouldn't.  This group is slowly gelling, and by next season, I expect them to start dominating.

RB: (A-) There was a time when rushing for 100 yds in a game was considered impressive - last season for example.  But when Saquon Barkley is your RB, that's considered an off day.  Barkley currently ranks 39th nationally in rushing yds per attempt and 34th in total rushing yds with 836 (keep in mind that he missed two games due to injury and basically didn't play against Temple).  Even still, he is the most productive true freshmen in the country by nearly 100 yds!  He is for real ladies and gentlemen.  Everything you’re seeing is actually happening.  Oh, against Northwestern he ran for 133 yds and 2 TDs while catching 6 passes for another 50 yds... you know, just in case you were wondering.

WR: (A) Chris Godwin led the way again with 8 catches for 104 yds and is turning into a reliable target for... who are we kidding?  The only play that mattered for this group was the ridiculous double-reverse gone awry, turned TD pass from Geno Lewis to Daesean Hamilton.  It was insane, unbelievable, *insert adjective here*!!!  Keep this in mind: no matter who is playing QB next year (news flash, it won't be Hackenberg), they will have arguably the top WR corps in the country.  Our days of worrying about offensive production might soon be over.

TE: (F) "The beatings will continue until morale improves."  This famous phrase certainly applies to this group.  They will continue to get Fs until I see them do something that even remotely resembles playing football.  Despite each of them making a catch, Mike Gesicki dropped 3 passes while Kyle Carter dropped at least 1.  I'm not even going to name the third TE on the roster because he hasn't done enough to be recognized.  Seriously, can we get Bill O'Brien back, at least to be our TEs coach?

Defense

DL: (A) What's left to say about this group?  I honestly can't name another team/school, at least since I've been paying attention to college football, that has no fewer than three early round draft picks currently starting on their defensive line.  These guys are amazing and so much fun to watch!  Austin Johnson led the team in tackles against Northwestern with 10, including 2 for a loss and a sack.  Carl Nassib *only* had 4 tackles and a sack (although he leads the nation with 16 sacks and 6 forced fumbles).  And Garrett Sickels tacked on 3 more tackles as well as a sack of his own.  We have three games left with these guys, enjoy it.

LB: (B+) Brandon Bell had his best game of the season.  He was second on the team in tackles with 8, but more impressively he had 3.5 tackles for a loss, 2.5 of which were sacks!  Troy Reeder wasn't too shabby either with 6 tackles.  And although Jason Cabinda only had 3 tackles, he had a sack and an interception.  All in all, a good day.  Here's the thing, though, if you actually watched the game on Saturday, the LBs consistently took bad angles and missed tackles because of it.  There's no other way of putting it; they're terrible against running QBs.  However, no one from this group will graduate in the offseason.  If they can work on that over the summer, they'll be unstoppable by this time next year.

DB: (A-) Marcus Allen, 7 tackles and a forced fumble.  Malik Golden, 6 tackles.  Grant Haley, 4 tackles, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup.  Trevor Williams, 3 tackles including 1 for a loss.  Yep, I'd say the future is pretty bright in the defensive backfield.  My only gripe from the game was Grant Haley missing two easy interceptions.  Not only would that have made my prediction come true, the second one probably would've won the game for Penn State if he had managed to pull it in.  Oh well, they're still awesome.

Special Teams

K: (D) But didn't Tyler Davis hit all 3 extra points? Yes.  And he didn't miss any FGs because he didn't attempt any, right? Correct.  Well then, what's with the grade Optimus?  A 96 yd kickoff returned for a TD on one of many squib kicks, where the key missed tackle was by none other than Tyler himself.  That's why.

P: (C) Pasquariello wasn't awful, getting the ball inside the 20 once and getting a touch back once.  Chris Gulla only punted twice but looked pretty bad both times.  Meanwhile I'm just sitting here waiting for Blake Gilikin to show up.

Today's bonus grade is a B, which of course stands for BYE WEEK!

Alright, that will do it for Northwestern.  I'm going to try to come up with something this week to celebrate the bye, but obviously I haven't decided on what that is just yet.  If I can't come up with something, be sure to check back next Friday as Penn State plays it's last home game of the season vs Michigan in a full stadium White Out!  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!