The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s dominating 44-7 win over Maryland
Penn State is heading to Indianapolis to play for a Big Ten title against Oregon after destroying Maryland in Beaver Stadium Saturday evening, 44-7.
Let’s get right into the good, the bad, and the ugly from Saturday’s game.
Good
Penn State’s defense: It wasn’t a perfect start (I’ll get to that) but Penn State’s defense suffocated Maryland for most of the 60 minutes it was on the field. And it wasn’t one position group doing it either. When the Terps passed, Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton got pressure off the edge and Zane Durant collapsed the pocket from the middle. And when they didn’t, or when Maryland got the ball out quick? Then the secondary was there to break up the pass or make the first tackle. Sometimes those two things married up and a pressure led to an errant throw and an interception. Maryland had a little more success when it ran, but it was also doing so down multiple scores in situations where Penn State would have been comfortable giving up a small gain on the ground. There are a lot of reasons Penn State dominated Saturday, but the defense has to be at the top of the list.
Tyler Warren: Saturday wasn’t the exclamation point I thought it would be for Warren — with him solidifying himself as a surefire Heisman Trophy candidate — but that doesn’t mean he was bad. He just happened to be excellent instead of perfect on the field. The Penn State tight end caught six of his nine targets for 68 yards and a touchdown, ran three times for 32 yards and completed a pass for nine yards. Basically, he did it all. Again. Like he has all season. Some will quibble with his Heisman candidacy, but he’s the best offensive player in a very good offense that may not be anywhere near that level without him. Essentially, he’s a massive reason why the Nittany Lions have had success with the ball this season. His value is up there with any in the country. That includes players like elite two-way player Travis Hunter at Colorado and dominant running back Ashton Jeanty at Boise State. I’m not saying Warren is better than those two, but he deserves to be in that conversation — especially when it comes to bringing value to their team.
Qualifying for the Big Ten title game: I know there has been some discussion on message boards and social media about if it would be a good thing for Penn State to play for the Big Ten title. I understand the arguments — that the Nittany Lions may get stuck playing a first round game anyway but without an extra week off and could see their seeding harmed with a loss to Oregon. I’m just here to tell you those arguments are wrong. First and foremost, these players and coaches play to win championships. Of course they want a national title most, but they absolutely want a conference one too. But even if fans don’t care about that, it could also be massively beneficial from a playoff perspective. Winning against Oregon will likely make Penn State either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and give it a bye. And even a loss means PSU is probably the No. 5 seed (or at least should be) giving them the lowest-ranked playoff team in the first round and a potential subpar conference champ in the quarterfinals. Playing Saturday is a good thing. Period.
Getting reps for young players: I mentioned in my game preview that Penn State was going to have a chance to rest its starters against the Terps — and it did. Those reps went to young players and it could end up paying dividends for the Nittany Lions this season, and it most definitely will in the future. Two players in particular could be impactful in the postseason in linebacker Anthony Speca and wide receiver Tyseer Denmark. They both play positions in search of some depth and handled their in-game action against Maryland well. I thought Speca operated well in space — even better than other players above him on the depth chart — and could reasonably earn some limited reps as early as the Oregon game where he could do that better than some teammates. Denmark has seen early playing time in recent weeks, and his touchdown to close the game could be the confidence booster that takes him to the next level and gets him into the rotation more regularly.
Tom Allen: Much of the conversation around the Penn State coordinators centers on offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki — who deserves the adoration. But not enough focuses on defensive coordinator Tom Allen and the job he’s done with the Penn State defense. This might be the best in the country. I’d probably still argue for Ohio State, but it’s close. The Nittany Lions are ferocious in all the right places. The edge rushers trap quarterbacks in the pocket and the defensive tackles punish the interior of it by pushing their linemen into the signal callers’ lap. The corners stay in the hip pocket of receivers and the safeties clean up every potential mistake on the back end while creating their own chaos moving forward. And they’re all in position to do that because Allen so expertly game plans each week to attack an offense’s weakness and limit its strength. Some may take issue with his groups occasional slow starts, but there’s infinitely more valuable information in how his units play throughout a game — and under him they do it at the highest level.
Bad
First few plays for Penn State: Things did not start well for the Nittany Lions. With a Big Ten title berth on the line, they fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Then they gave up a touchdown — Maryland’s only one of the game — on the next play. And it started to look like they were going to get caught up in the chaos that most of the country’s college football programs have all year. Two incredibly sloppy plays that spotted an opponent, which had nothing to lose, a seven-point lead. That’s as much of a disaster as you can have. Fortunately for Penn State, it righted the ship and dominated the rest of the game. But those are the kind of starts you can’t afford to have against good teams.
Ugly
Mike Locksley complaining about the final touchdown: James Franklin and Maryland head coach Mike Locksley had a tense exchange after the game, right after Penn State’s backups scored a passing touchdown as time expired. Unsurprisingly, Locksley also called the late score “bull----” in his postgame press conference. I get being mad that you’re getting destroyed in your regular season finale and can’t even stop the other team’s backups with your starters. But if Locksley had such disdain for Franklin trying to score late, then certainly he was equally mad at himself and his team for passing the ball late and trying to score with about a minute on the clock. Of course, the Terps didn’t score and instead threw a pick and gave PSU its chance to get that last second touchdown. My advice? If you don’t want the other team to score, then play better defense.
