While a lot of things about Penn State’s season come down to many different factors and some degree of opinion, one thing is for certain: Penn State’s defense was very, very good. Manny Diaz will go down as one of the best defensive coordinators Penn State has ever had and that fact is reflected in the coaching grade to wrap up the defensive side of the ball.
The Grade: A
The Good: In spite of the fact each positional group managed a B+ grade, the thing that brings this grade to the point of an A is the fact Manny Diaz was able to take three different levels of a defense and make them work well together in a way which made them better as a whole than as individual pieces. For as good as each level was, how well they played together in unison is the mark of a good coach and a good coaching staff. If Penn State’s offense lacked direction and purpose, Penn State’s defense was the epitome of understanding what it was and how it wanted to go about being that way. There’s something to be said about how Michigan and Ole Miss played against this group (Ohio State to an extent as well) but on the whole Penn State’s defense did more than enough in all three of those games that a more consistent and potent offense could have taken advantage of it. Good coaching isn’t about perfection, it’s about identity and execution and Penn State’s defense had and did, both of those things all year when fully staffed. This group was among the best defenses in America and one of the best that Penn State has put on the field. That comes back in no small part, to coaching.
The Not So Good: Penn State spent a lot of time in the lead-up to the Michigan game knowing that Michigan was going to run the ball and in many respects couldn’t stop the Wolverines from doing exactly that. Considering that a better offense would have likely scored more points than Penn State did, you can’t put that loss on the shoulders of Penn State’s defense. Ohio State was also a fairly one dimensional team this season and while “simply stop one of the best receivers in the country after the catch” is no small task, it wasn’t a secret as to what the Buckeyes were going to do that day either. Penn State probably wins one or both of those games if it has a better offense, but it is what it is. The Ole Miss game may have a big personnel asterisk next to it given some of the players who didn’t, play, but this game didn’t cover Anthony Poindexter in glory either. All of this is splitting hairs, which says something about how good this defense really was.
Overall: Whatever qualms you might have about Penn State’s defense at any given moment it rarely surpassed the threshold of anything more than “the other team actually got a first down and scored points.” This group was very very good, and while Manny Diaz was never going to be around Penn State for long, he etched himself into the books as one of the best the program has had in that role as defensive coordinator.
See all of the Positional Grades HERE.
