The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 33-24 win over Indiana
Penn State has spent its first seven games being carried by its defense, with an offense that usually did just enough to win or floundered like it did against Ohio State.
Saturday afternoon was a different story. The offense was again off the mark, barely doing enough to have a lead, but the defense had its fair share of mistakes, too.
The Nittany Lions gave up more than 20 points for the first time all season and allowed the Indiana offense to do somethings its own couldn’t — connect on explosive plays — nearly giving away the game that ended in a 33-24 win.
“We just had some blown coverages that we haven’t had,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “And sometimes, I’m going to be honest with you, you make a mistake, and the offense doesn’t find you when you make a mistake. And we made some mistakes. This game specifically, the one where it’s either a corner fire or a linebacker blitz, depending on the formation in the split, and both of them ended up coming. We were obviously in trouble. So, we just made some mistakes this week that are uncharacteristic for us.”
Those defensive miscues resulted in touchdowns of 96 and 60 yards that both gave the Hoosiers leads. Those are the types of mistakes the unit has not made, or at least not been caught making, all year. Some of that is their own poor play, but some is the play of the opposing quarterback.
Indiana QB Brendan Sorsby finished the game with 269 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception on 13-of-19 passing. Franklin applauded the IU signal caller who only recently won the starting job outright.
“Got to give Indiana credit,” Franklin said. “They did a good job. We went into that game thinking that quarterback is a good player. Thought he played well today. Thought he played really well today.”
Good
Drew Allar’s response: I may as well start here because this is going to be the story coming out of the game. Drew Allar threw the first interception of his career at a terrible time — he gave Indiana the ball back with a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. The Penn State defense bailed him out by forcing IU to settle for a field goal, but his response was even more impressive. Allar threw a strike to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 57-yard touchdown, unfazed and unbothered by what he did on the previous drive. His ability to respond is one of the few reasons for hope for fans that the Nittany Lion offense might figure something out by the end of the season.
Dani Dennis-Sutton: Chop Robinson not playing was always going to hurt the defense, even if Penn State has a bunch of depth at defensive end. But Dani Dennis-Sutton did his best to minimize how much it impacted the unit. He earned a sack in the game — but saying it was just a sack doesn’t do it justice. Dennis-Sutton strip-sacked Indiana quarterback Brendan Sorsby with the Nittany Lions up a touchdown late in the game, essentially icing the win after the ball was booted all the way through the back of the end zone for a safety. He may be a backup now, but Dennis-Sutton might not just be the team’s best defensive end next year, but its best defensive player overall.
Daequan Hardy: Speaking of some of the best players on the defense. Daequan Hardy is far from the most talented player on that side of the ball, but few have been more impactful than he has — especially when you consider he missed the first two games for undisclosed reasons. Hardy has been excellent as a nickel corner, sticking to his man and making life difficult for opposing slot receivers. He blitzes from there, too, adding another sack this game on a play that proved to be crucial — with Indiana settling for, and missing, a field goal. Not to mention he ran another punt back, although this one was called back for a block in the back. The point is, Hardy is both consistent and impactful at a position where few players are. He’s had an excellent season and that continued Saturday.
Kaytron Allen: It seems clear now that Kaytron Allen is the best running back on the roster this season and should be the clear lead back moving forward. That’s not to say Nick Singleton shouldn’t be involved — he should still be getting 10-12 carries per game — but Allen is more consistent right now. This isn’t just about the running game either. Allen is the better pass catcher and blocker, making him the easy choice for third down situations too. Singleton has all the talent in the world and may be the best back on the team next year, but he’s best used as a change of pace back for now. Allen had 18 carries for 81 yards and was able to fight for extra yards. In an offense begging for consistency right now, he provides it.
Bad
Defensive miscues: Penn State still has one of the best defenses in the country, but I don’t think Saturday is going on the highlight reel at the end of the season. The Nittany Lions got caught making mistakes twice by Indiana and paid for it. They gave up a 90-yard touchdown to Dequece Carter on a play where they allowed him to get over the top of the defense and catch a long pass from Sorsby. Then, a mistake on a blitz where both Johnny Dixon and Curtis Jacobs blitzed when only one was supposed to (seemingly Jacobs) left Donaven McCulley wide open and Jaylen Reed unable to get over to him before he scored a 69-yard touchdown. There were a couple of long drives by Indiana that may actually be more concerning in the long run, but the big plays hurt Penn State most on Saturday.
The offense: Pretty much all of it, and for most of the game. I think this was pretty easily the offense’s worst performance of the season, which is kind of impressive, considering how bad the group looked last week against Ohio State. The passing game was completely inept for long stretches, with Allar having limited time to throw, receivers not coming open and him occasionally not seeing them when they did. The blocking up front wasn’t great either, with Indiana getting pressure a little too easily for a defense that is decidedly bad. Not to mention, the Nittany Lions couldn’t run the ball against the worst run defense in the Big Ten, despite having the talent to dominate the Hoosiers. There’s plenty wrong with the offense right now, but I think a lot of the blame falls into one place ...
Ugly
Wide receivers (non-KeAndre Lambert-Smith category): ... and that’s here. Lambert-Smith is not included here (although he was not perfect) and neither is Harrison Wallace III because he left the game early and returned to the sideline with a sling on his right arm. Everyone else — yikes. Nobody was getting open. I was going to list the issues, but that’s really it and it’s a pretty big one. I continue to say Dante Cephas is the team’s third best receiver but he’s also not getting open consistently enough for it to matter. He was, however the only non-Lambert-Smith receiver to catch a pass, hauling in two of them. That’s right. No other receiver caught a single one of Allar’s 31 passing attempts. That’s inexcusable for a team with the aspirations Penn State has. If it doesn’t change, I’ll be writing about the offense failing again in two weeks after the Michigan game.
