The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 27-11 win over UCLA
Penn State could have fallen prey to some of the issues they were facing Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium — like a UCLA quarterback with very little college tape or the fact star running back Nick Singleton was out with an injury.
Despite those potential road blocks, the Nittany Lions took care of business to the tune of 27-11. While it may not have been pretty the entire time, it’s something fans should not take for granted.
Penn State head coach James Franklin says week in and week out that plenty of teams would love to be 1-0. This week is no different, and No. 1 Alabama losing to 2-2 Vanderbilt is the best example of that.
Still, there’s plenty to learn about this Nittany Lion team, even in a win.
Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the win over the Bruins.
Good
Offensive line: Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki will get a lot of the attention because of his creative use of the offensive linemen, but the players should be getting plenty of praise on their own. Every week this group goes mostly unnoticed — outside of when guard Vega Ioane is steamrolling a defender after going in motion. And that’s one of the highest compliments I can give an offensive lineman.
This continues to be one of the most scrutinized positions in the sport when it’s bad and one of the most under-discussed when it’s good. And right now, things are very good. The one hiccup that could be cause for concern moving forward, was that starting right tackle Anthony Donkoh was holding his arm/shoulder after a play and then did not return to the game. Nolan Rucci replaced him at the position, but there was enough of a drop-off in production that it’s worth monitoring Donkoh’s status moving forward.
DE Dani Dennis-Sutton: Penn State recorded only two sacks against UCLA, but that doesn’t mean the team’s pass rushers didn’t have a good day. Mainly, that doesn’t mean Dani Dennis-Sutton wasn’t a menace for the Nittany Lion defense. He was dominant all game, terrorizing UCLA’s tackles and consistently creating pressure when the Bruins dropped back to pass. He didn’t earn either of the two sacks, but Dennis-Sutton did record two quarterback hits and two pass breakups.
This defense will always be at its best in obvious passing situations when the pass rushers can pin their ears back and get after the quarterback, but despite those spots not coming up much against UCLA, Dennis-Sutton still had an impact. The arrow is pointing straight up when it comes to his draft stock heading into a matchup with a USC team that loves to throw the ball.
Veteran wide receivers: Some may point to wide receiver Liam Clifford’s performance as a breakout game, but I tend to view it as a product of an improving veteran receiving group that is well-utilized by Kotelnicki. Clifford caught all three of his targets for 107 yards in the game, but didn’t have the type of dominant performance many envision when they see a receiver going for 100-plus yards.
He was excellent in his role against UCLA, and on this occasion that included hauling in a deep shot from quarterback Drew Allar. Clifford and Julian Fleming both have continued to contribute for this team and should only see their value to the offense increase as matchups get more difficult. Does that mean they’ll put up this type of yardage output every week? No, but it should mean you’ll see Allar going to them in key situations.
K Ryan Barker: I am not one to make much of a fuss about the kicking game — as far as I’m concerned teams should be going for it far more frequently than they do, especially in big games against good offenses that score a lot of touchdowns. But it at least seems like Penn State has someone reliable for situations when they should attempt field goals (or for when they attempt them even when they shouldn’t).
Barker connected from 25 yards and 40 yards on field goal attempts in the game and made all of his extra points. That’s not to say he’ll be perfect in the future, but for at least one day he got the job done.
Bad
Linebacker play: This may be a major issue against teams that are elite at running (Ohio State) and teams that have a proclivity for tearing teams up in the middle of the field in the passing game (USC). So, yeah, Penn State needs better play from its linebackers if it’s going to keep trotting out a rotation at the position. I think the simplest answer here is the obvious one — Kobe King and Tony Rojas should play a very high snapload in the team’s biggest games this year.
Those two have been very good at times and not part of the problem most of the time. But at this point, once the team dips deeper on the depth chart, all bets are off and there’s no telling what will happen.
Slow starts: Penn State has been excellent to start the second half of games, and that’s a good thing because it’s mostly been bad to start the first half. That continued this week with the offense failing to score on its first two drives against a mediocre defense that hasn’t defended the pass or run well this season.
Some of that may be random variance, but it seems to be a trend at this point. There are some things that everyone can do to get better — like Allar being more on the money with his throws early on — but there isn’t always one culprit. It’s an oversimplification to say the Nittany Lions just need to be better early in games but … the Nittany Lions just need to be better early in games.
Ugly
UCLA: UCLA has been bad to start the season, but the Bruins’ play has been made even worse by some extenuating circumstances. This week, for instance, that was starting a game at 9 a.m. body clock time after flying in from the west coast one day ahead of the noon ET kick. This team is not ready to compete in the Big Ten — or any conference really — after former head coach Chip Kelly left to be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State (yikes).
That was clear as day even when the score was knotted up at zero to end the first quarter. I feel for head coach DeShaun Foster, who is in an impossible situation, but I don’t know if UCLA is going to win another game this season.
This story was originally published October 6, 2024 at 9:30 AM.
