Week 9 Grades

Time for us to move on from Monday's technical issues, and focus back on the lopsided victory at Beaver Stadium on Saturday.  The Nittany Lions had their most complete game of the season and walked away with a 39-0 win over Illinois to put them at 7-2 on the season (4-1 in Big Ten play).  The final stretch of games looks brutal, so let's revel in this win as much as possible and roll out some grades!

Offense
QB: (A+) Christian Hackenberg already held Penn State records for most career pass attempts, 200-yd games, and 300-yd games.  Last week he became the school's all-time yardage and completions leader as well.  Now, with his 45 career TD passes, he only needs one more to tie Matt "Moxy" McGloin's school record of 46.  So far this season, he's eclipsed last year's TD total, while staying 13 under his 2014 interception total, and that's with 4 games left.  In the last 6 games, he's completed 57% of his passes for 1,415 yds and 12 TDs to 0 INTs.  He also has 2 rushing TDs, and shockingly a 14 yd TD reception.  Against Illinois he had his best game of the year, going 21-29 for 266 yds and 2 TDs.  Those are the stats my friends.  Some don't like it, oh well.

Players like Hack just gonna play

OL: (C+) With the continued absence of RT Andrew Nelson due to injury, the line was forced into their 7th starting combination in 9 games.  The line looked like this: Paris Palmer, Angelo Mangiro, Wendy Laurent, Brian Gaia, Brendan Mahon.  They held up fairly well given the circumstances, but overall there's still a lot of work to do.  Small running lanes and 3 sacks point to flaws that Illinois simply couldn't exploit like other teams have and will.  Still, the numbers don't lie.  Much of Hackenberg's recent success throwing the ball is due to increased time from the offensive line.  They're getting better.

RB: (A-) Barkley, on the other hand, is incredible!  While some players dream of having 2-3 signature plays in a season, he has that many each game.  And none was more impressive than the TD he scored against Illinois.  Especially early on, the Illini defense seemed to take a page out of Maryland's playbook, stacking the box to defend against the run.  That's why Barkley's 84 yds and 1 TD on 20 attempts doesn't necessarily jump out.  But it was more than enough to get the job done.  I will say that in garbage time at the end, both backup QB Trace McSorely (who ran 3 times for 15 yds) and 4th string RB Mark Allen looked really sharp, with Allen scoring his first rushing TD.  The future looks very bright at this position.

WR: (A+) No position looks brighter right now, however, than WR!  By game's end, 5 different receivers caught passes along with a RB, a TE, and even the QB!  Each man seems to have a defined role now, and it's paying dividends.  Chris Godwin is the top target and deep threat (with 7 catches and a TD).  Daesean Hamilton is the possession man in the slot (adding another 4 grabs for 54 yds).  Geno Lewis can high-point the ball like no one else and excels in the redzone (where he's caught 2 TDs in 2 games).  And DeAndre Thompkins and Brandon Polk are speedy WR/RB hybrids, tailor-built for the jet sweep.  That's not even mentioning the potential of Saeed Blacknall and Juwan Johnson!  If Hackenberg does magically stick around for another year, it will be strictly because he wants to play with these guys again.

TE: (B-) Although Kyle Carter didn't have a catch, Mike Gesicki finally stopped dropping balls long enough to have 2 catches for 26 yds in this one.  Still no sign of Adam Breneman contributing anytime soon, and Brent Wilkerson seems to have fallen off a cliff.  I get that the TE position isn't very important in John Donovan's offense... but I just see that as yet more reason to hate John Donovan.  They also need to work on their blocking more.

Defense
DL: (A+) The defensive line has had sacks in their last 31 consecutive games, including 4 more today.  Guess what, that's an NCAA record!  Between those sacks and tackles for loss, Penn State's opponents are averaging 44.7 negative rush yds per game.  They held Illinois to 37 net rush yds and as a whole, the defense pitched a shut out.  The 167 total yds they did give up were not only the fewest yds allowed all season, they were the fewest allowed in a Big Ten game since 2009 (against Minnesota)!  Austin Johnson led the group with 5 tackles and a sack.  Carl Nassib and Anthony Zettel added sacks of their own while bringing pressure all day long.  What more is there to say about these guys!?

LB: (A-) Jason Cabinda led the team in tackles with 7, but it was Troy Reeder who got all the attention with a 44 yd interception that almost went for a score.  It was the redshirt freshman's first INT as a Nittany Lion.  With 12 total tackles by the three starters, it wasn't this group's most productive day.  They also left much to be desired in covering the slot.  Illinois' Wes Lunt had most of his success across the middle, right in LB territory.  Michigan and MSU have strong passing attacks and will look to take advantage of this in the coming weeks.  But the good news is, no more running QBs!

DB: (B-) They got beat way more than I expected; then again, they saw more shots in this game than they might have seen all year combined.  I will say that I've been a fan of Marcus Allen since his very first game after Ryan Keiser's injury last year.  He continues to impress me with his incredibly intense, hard-hitting style.  The phrase "flying around" gets overused, especially by ESPN, but it absolutely applies to Allen.  He's a star in the making, along with CB John Reid.

Special Teams
K: (F) This was not pretty.  Joey Julius started things off with 2 blocked extra points (that thankfully didn't matter), then followed it up with a kick out of bounds.  Tyler Davis also had a kick out of bounds, although he made 2 FGs and all 3 of his extra points.  Apparently, the poor showing has prompted James Franklin to look into other kicking options than the Big Toe.  The shining moment was Koa Farmer's kick return into Illini territory.

P: (C-) Nothing special, but nothing bad.  No shanked punts that I can remember, but no booming ones with great hang time either.  DeAndre Thompkins' fumbled return late in the game almost cost the defense their shut out, otherwise, nothing bad stood out.  Hence, they get a perfectly average C-

This week's bonus grade goes to the student section who gets an A-.  They looked great in their Halloween costumes and really brought a nice energy to THON Day with the yellow ribbon next to the S-zone.  However, they remain terrible at filling up their section for noon kickoffs.

Alright, that will do it for Illinois week.  This week's game against Northwestern is the last game before the Lions finally get a bye.  Then, we head into the final 2-game home stretch!  Check back in on Friday for my prediction.  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!