Takeaways and Grades: PSU v UM Report Card

The Takeaways:

PSU’s Defensive Depth Is Legit

Micah Parsons was a 5-star stud. One of the top 10 high school recruits in all the land. He is arguably Penn State’s top player on their entire roster.; and he was ejected for targeting on this call early in the first quarter:

It was a dumb play. He knew it, and so did Penn State’s entire sideline. But when a team’s best player gets ejected, you’d expect some type of talent drop-off, right? That simply did not happen. Remember in my report card for the Idaho game, when I mentioned that PSU’s entire second-line defense was made up of former four and five-star prospects?

Enter Jesse Luketa.

The former four-star Canadian prospect stepped up upon Parsons’ departure. Big time. The stat line wasn’t awesome for Luketa (5 tackles and 1 pass deflected), however, if you watched the game, it was evident he was absolutely everywhere. The Ottowa-native showed off his speed all night, making plays like this:

Then, with a massive lead in the fourth, the third-team defense embarked onto the field and preserved the shutout. That third team received massive performances from true-freshmen former four-stars, CB Keaton Ellis ( 2 tackles, 1 forced fumble) and DE Adissa Isaac (2 TFL’s, 1.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble). Few things make the talent gap flagrantly evident like that kind of production from your third-team unit. This defense is young, deep, talented, and was disrespected by Vegas as they headed to Maryland only 6.5 point favorites. They made a statement in College Park on Friday.

Maryland Fooled Its Fanbase

Gosh. Where do you even start? After beating Howard 79-0, and upsetting a ranked Syracuse 63-20 in its first two games, Maryland lost its third game against Temple, 20-17. Their coach, team, and fanbase believed the loss in Philly was simply a fluke. So much so, they canceled all Friday afternoon classes and sold out their stadium (with added bleacher seats) for their showdown against PSU.

It was not a fluke.

If anyone watched that Temple game, a few things were made painfully clear. Firstly, the Owls exposed Maryland’s lack of talent in the trenches. Secondly, and arguably most importantly, Josh Jackson looked awful in Lincoln Financial Field two weeks ago. Those same flaws would go on to be the Terps’ downfall against the Nittany Lions. To begin with, Jackson threw an interception on his team’s first drive for the second week in a row. The first one wasn’t too bad:

It was man-coverage, and Jan Johnson rolled off his man because he was following Jackson’s eyes. Penn State scored on the next play, and the Terps were only down 7-0. However, the second pick was evidently the team’s undoing, particularly when you consider the scenario in which it was thrown:

Down only 14-0 in the first quarter, Jackson made that throw in the red zone. Maryland coach Mike Locksley later admitted that pick, “…took the air out of our team.”

In conclusion, you combine bad QB play with an o-line that allowed 4 sacks, 8 TFL’s, and only garnered 60 rushing yards, and it’s understandable how the Terps were scoreless. So Maryland’s offense clearly isn’t the explosive juggernaut they thought it would be after the first two games. And sadly, it may not even be a good offense.

Clifford Was Good, But Don’t Be Fooled

If you simply read Sean Clifford’s stat-line against Maryland, you’d think he went off: 26/31, 398 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT. And that was in less than 3 quarters of play. Listen, I’m not here to say Clifford played poorly. Not at all. But that stat-line is deceiving, particularly when you consider there were three plays, in which Clifford threw less than 10 yards downfield, but each play resulted in chunks of yardage – 58 yards (Hamler TD), 37 yards (Brown TD), and 55 yards (Bowers) – due to running after the catch.

That’s 150 yards and 2 TD’s where Sean didn’t beat the defense, his playmakers did. Moreover, Sean was only 1-4, 40 yards, and 1 INT in deep throws. And that one completion was underthrown. Lastly, as Pitt made very apparent in week 3, if this offense can’t hit their deep throws, it can become very easy to stop.

I’m being picky, I know. But that’s a very important caveat to look at, as Clifford’s deep accuracy is absolutely essential for this offense to beat elite defenses. Other B1G defenses are simply too fast and too talented to hope you could beat them with quick dump-offs.

The PSU Grades:

Offense:

Oof. This offense exploded against Maryland. When your starting QB has 4 TD’s and only 5 incompletions, you demolished a defense. I probably talk the most crap out of any Penn State follower on OC Ricky Rahne and OL coach Matt Limegrover, but boy, they sure shut me up last Friday.

The o-line didn’t allow a single sack and permitted one measly QB hurry. Cliff’ was flat-footed and straight chillin’ on most of his dropbacks. It was so pleasing to see a Penn State o-line finally dominate for a whole game.

Furthermore, I must give credit to the often-criticized Ricky Rahne. The State OC had most of Nittany Nation calling for his head after week 3, but he came through in a hostile environment. Coming into the game ranked 127th (big yikes) nationally in third-down conversions, the Lions turned 9/14 third downs into firsts. Rahne also listened to Franklin and made sure KJ Hamler touched the ball more. KJ responded with 100+ receiving yards in one half. Lastly, the running back-by-committee rushed for a combined 109 yards on 27 carries. Truly dominant performance.

Grade: A+

Defense:

So right before halftime, Maryland had just as many penalty yards as they did total yards. Moreover, the Terps finished with 128 total yards and 385 punting yards! Their offense did not move. Locksley’s squad’s only trip to the red zone ended in a pick. Penn State’s gameplan was to stop former blue-chip recruit Anthony McFarland, and they held him to 24 yards on 9 carries. Two Terps QB’s combined for this stat-line: 11/24, 68 passing yards, 2 INT — that’s laughably bad.

Lastly, as mentioned before, this defense’s second and third units dominated just as much as the first. At one point, there was a dude playing who even I didn’t know lol. Sorry, Drew Hartlaub. As Tillman said on FOX’s broadcast, the Lions’ defense played like they didn’t know the score. An unequivocally complete performance.

Grade: A+

Special Teams

Were we in The Twilight Zone on Friday night?

Not only did Javon Leake return a Stout kickoff, but he took it almost 30 yards. Maryland went on to return two more Stout kickoffs! Then, in this somehow mystical world, Jordan Stout….missed…a field goal. Lol, I’m only kind of kidding about the kickoffs. A 6/9 touchback percentage is still excellent.

But I’m not kidding about a missed field goal — though it was a 53-yarder. Also, Blake Gillikin had an awful 30-yard punt – really went 25 and rolled – from within the Lions’ own territory. That’s very bad, and James Franklin’s team didn’t pay because Maryland stinks.

Additionally, Joe Lorig’s unit was penalized twice. Not terrible mistakes, but mistakes that could cost you a game if committed against elite teams. A very rare off day for a normally elite unit.

Grade: B

Overall Grade: A

As always, keep it locked on Overtime Heroics all season for more Penn State and college football coverage. Don’t agree with my grades? Let me know on Twitter or our forums!