Well that happened. And if you’re still thinking about it here are some grades.
Offense: F
There aren’t any stats kept on these grade posts, but as an editorial note I can say with near 100% certainty that I’ve never given out an F before. There is something to be said in here about the idea that Ohio State’s defense is very good and that low scoring game, in which both teams struggle to do good things on a regular basis, is not by any means an automatic sign of poor quality. Some very good football games have unfolded that way. And to a certain extent, aspects of Penn State and Ohio State’s low scoring 20-12 affair were enjoyable.
That being said, for a lot of reasons, Penn State’s offense had no real identity, momentum, optimism, confidence or consistency. For all of the good Ohio State did on defense Penn State obliged it by alternating between a litany of things it wasn’t very good at in order to showcase each of them. Penn State went 1-for-16 on third down, and that is in a lot of ways the summary of the game. Nick Singleton had two good runs that showed signs of life but Penn State was toothless on the ground and rudderless in the air. Drew Allar appeared in over his head at times and his receivers did just about nothing to make his life any easier. This wasn’t quite the same kind of dysfunction that plagued Penn State at Iowa a few years ago following Sean Clifford’s injury but it was in a way almost worse because at least then you could chalk the failure up to a backup quarterback.
Defense: A
If you hold Ohio State to 10 points through three quarters on the road you’re doing something right. Ohio State’s offense is not as potent as usual but Penn State’s defense did everything it needed to in order to win this game. Marvin Harrison Jr had himself a day but that is something borderline unavoidable for how often the Buckeyes try and get him the ball – he had 16 targets on Saturday. Ohio State was 6-for-16 on third down, had a pretty modest 365 yards of offense and only really had its way in the end because this group could only stop so many punches after being on the field for over 30 minutes of game time. Abdul Carter and Curtis Jacobs led the way with nine tackles as Penn State racked up nine tackles for a loss. This group wasn’t perfect but it kept getting stops that Penn State needed for more than long enough. Whatever imperfections there to be found here you can’t dwell on them for too long when compared to Penn State’s offense.
Special Teams: A
Daequan Hardy said after the game the punt he let go past him was the result of a weird break at the last second so we’ll take his word for him there. That’s really the only blemish from a group that is often the area a game like this can swing on. Perfect from the field goal unit, and good work from Riley Thompson – nine punts, four inside the 20 and two over 50. Penn State’s two kick returns were both for 30 yards [well 30 and 29] and Hardy’s lone punt return was for 15 at a good moment. Overall you can’t fault this unit for the loss and if anything Alex Felkins making his two field goals from 40 and 41 yards were key to give Penn State any sort of life at all. This group has gone from a weakness to borderline strength.
Coaching: NA
Coaching is a challenging thing to quantify sometimes. Penn State called some weird plays, but if anything that might have been a sign of how little faith it had in the normal ones working. Penn State’s offense was very bad, the defense was very good. Penn State was in the game, Penn State also never felt like it was going to win the game. Penn State should have run more, Penn State also had a hard time running. Penn State’s receivers did not play well, Penn State’s coaches can only do so much about that.
In a game like this there are a million things to parse. It’s hard to say that Penn State was unprepared defensively, it’s hard not to feel like it was unprepared offensively but it’s also fair to say that being worse than another team doesn’t mean coaching can change that fact. Whatever this grade is, it’s not good.
Overall: C-
The defense and the special teams units are what save this grade. Penn State trailed 10-6 against Ohio State after three quarters which is the result of plenty of good things happening. The rest is well, bad and not good and anyway go watch some NFL or something.
