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The Nittany Lions finished up their non-conference slate Saturday against the Temple Owls. Let’s hand out some position grades.
Penn State hosted Temple on Saturday and came away with a close victory, 34-27. It wasn’t always pretty but a win is a win. The offense once again looked explosive at times, but still couldn’t get away from some mistakes.
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There are a slew of injuries, especially on defense, ailing the Nittany Lions. Aside from guys who were already out prior to the game, there were some significant injuries that occurred during the game. Still, they played through it all and came away with a win and a little revenge against Temple.
Entering Big Ten play next week, the Nittany Lions will have to work on some things to get better. The have a tough opening conference game in the Big House at Michigan.
However there were many positives and improvements to bring away from this game and we’ll break them down in the grades. Let’s get to it.
Feel free to leave comments and let us know how you would grade out the win.
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley (9) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Quarterbacks
Trace McSorley played pretty well overall Saturday. Although he had a few mistakes, he did what was needed to keep the Nittany Lion offense moving.
McSorley went 18 for 24 for 287 yards and threw for one touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown. A 75% completion percentage is pretty good in my book.
His touchdown pass to Chris Godwin was beautifully thrown and right on the money.
The most questionable decision of the day was McSorley throwing directly to an Owl defender when there was a Nittany Lion wide open down the middle. Clearly McSorley and the receiver were not on the same page.
Another positive is that McSorley did not fumble today and wasn’t sacked, although there were a couple of bad snaps that he did recover himself.
All in all, it was a solid day. Time to clean up the little things and get ready for conference play.
Grade: B
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley (26) runs with the ball during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Running Backs
Saquon Barkley was injured on the game’s first play from scrimmage and didn’t play for a good portion of the game. That did not stop the Nittany Lions from rushing the ball with the guys further down the depth chart.
Andre Robinson, Mark Allen and true freshman Miles Sanders all got a chance with the ball. Robinson scored a touchdown and had six carries for 24 yards. Allen had six carries for 18 yards. Sanders finished with three carries for 27 yards including a nice 19-yard scamper to pick up a 4th down conversion. Unfortunately Sanders fumbled the ball inside the Temple 10 right after that first down pickup.
Barkley did go back into the game later and had nine carries for 68 yards. Most of it was picked up on his 55-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter which proved to be the game winner for the Nittany Lions.
A decent day for the guys in the backfield. It was nice to see Sanders get some touches and hopefully there are no lingering effects of Barkley’s injury moving forward.
Grade: B
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Chris Godwin (12) runs with the ball during the second quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Wide Receivers / Tight Ends
It was another good day for the receivers with McSorley’s arm being mostly accurate.
Welcome to the season, Chris Godwin. He had his best game so far this year. To open the scoring, Godwin had a nice 52-yard catch and run touchdown early in the first quarter. He finished the day with seven catches for 117 yards and the score.
DaeSean Hamilton and DeAndre Thompkins were a little more quiet than they were against Pitt, but still finished with 50 yards and 36 yards, respectively.
The catch of the day absolutely goes to Mike Gesicki. He made a one-handed grab on a deep ball early in the second half that went for 52 yards. That drive ended in a Nittany Lion field goal. I’ve been very impressed with Gesicki thus far and hopefully he continues to be a factor in this passing game.
It was a solid day all around for the receivers and they are a big part of this fast paced, fun offense. The minus is for the miscommunication on the interception.
Grade: A-
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley (9) looks to throw a pass during the second quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Offensive Line
Flashback to last year in Philadelphia when Christian Hackenberg was sacked 10 times against the Owls.
Now, if you told me before this game the offensive line wouldn’t give up a sack, I wouldn’t have believed you, but that’s exactly what they did. I can’t remember the last time that has happened, so a big shout out for pass blocking this week.
The run blocking still needs some work. Not opening enough holes for the running backs although their best blocking came on Barkley’s long touchdown run.
Center Brian Gaia needs to clean up the snap exchanges. There were two miscues on the day where McSorley had to scramble to recover the ball and luckily he did. This offense has the quarterback in shotgun nearly every play, so they need to work on their snaps with Big Ten play looming.
Grade: B
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions defensive tackle Robert Windsor (54) pressures Temple Owls quarterback Phillip Walker (8) during the fourth quarter at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Defensive Line
The defensive front four had a better day on Saturday against Temple than they did against Pitt.
Temple only rushed for 38 yards and the defensive line was a big reason for that. Parker Cothren stepped up big for the Nittany Lions. He tallied seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and got credit for a half sack.
The other guys in the rotation also had solid performances. Torrence Brown had four tackles including a tackle for loss. It was nice to see Kevin Givens back this week after being knocked out of the Pitt game. Garrett Sickels and Robert Windsor also contributed.
The line still needs work when defending mobile quarterbacks as Temple’s Phillip Walker was able to escape the pressure and extend Owl drives with his legs several times on Saturday.
Grade: B-
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State University students wave their pompoms during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Linebackers
It’s the one position that the Nittany Lions could ill afford to have injuries this season and they have lost all three starters for an indeterminate amount of time.
Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell were already sidelined before Saturday and during the game there was deja vu to last year’s Temple game. Nyeem Wartman-White was injured while on the field during a punt return. He went to the locker room and came back later with a leg brace and crutches.
In their absence, Manny Bowen, Jake Cooper and rarely used Brandon Smith filled in the best that they could. Smith was the big surprise, leading the group in tackles with eight plus a half tackle for loss. Cooper chipped in five tackles and Bowen had three along with his first career sack. Bowen also nearly had an interception, but couldn’t hang on to the ball.
If the three starters are not ready to go next week and there is no indication that they will be, the learning curve jumps up quickly for those three backups against Michigan.
Grade: C+
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Temple Owls wide receiver Cortrelle Simpson (21) runs with the ball as Penn State Nittany Lions safety Marcus Allen (2) attempts a tackle during the third quarter at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA Today Sports
Secondary
This group played without starter Grant Haley and it showed on Saturday.
The bright spot for the secondary was cornerback John Reid’s interception to seal the win at the end of the game. Other than that, it wasn’t great.
Temple’s quarterback Phillip Walker threw for 286 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown right after Penn State scored the opening touchdown of the game.
Safeties Marcus Allen and Malik Golden also got banged up during the game but both did return. They lead the team with 17 combined total tackles. I thought the tackling was slightly better from this group than what we saw against Pitt.
I’m hoping this unit gets healthy for Big Ten play.
Grade: C
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; The Penn State student section cheers during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O
Special Teams
A great day for this unit and we are starting to see it be a strength of this team.
Punter Blake Gillikin only punted 3 times for an average of 35 yards, but he kept the Owls pinned in their own territory on those punts. For Joey Julius on kickoffs, all but one kick went for touchbacks. The one that didn’t went out of bounds for a procedure penalty. Not one punt or kick return for an Owl player which is great.
Kicker Tyler Davis remains perfect on extra points and field goals. He hit two field goals on Saturday.
John Reid had a nice punt return of 29 yards. On kickoffs, we got to see both Brandon Polk and Miles Sanders have returns of over 30 yards.
The big negative here was the mishandling of a Temple punt that gift wrapped an Owl touchdown.
Grade: A-
Sep 17, 2016; University Park, PA, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin (right) shakes hands with Temple Owls head coach Matt Rhule (left) following the completion of the game at Beaver Stadium. Penn State defeated Temple 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren- USA TODAY Sports
Coaching
There are not many complaints with the coaching in this one.
The mistakes that happened Saturday were mainly on the players or flukey (see the mishandled punt) and nothing really that could be contributed to coaching.
I thought James Franklin had his team prepared for this game, as he was not willing to let the 2015 Temple game repeat itself. The Nittany Lions dominated on offense for stretches and could have put up more points.
The offense seems like it could be on the verge of something great. I’m really liking Joe Morehead’s offense, as they seem to have the ability to score at any time. Brent Pry is doing the best he can with the limited options he has on defense right now.
The coaches do need to address the sloppiness that has occurred over non-conference play. They will need to be firing on all cylinders to compete in conference play.
Grade: B
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