Penn State report card: Grading the Nittany Lions win over Illinois

Penn State beat Illinois 30-13 on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions have plenty of successes from the game to celebrate. They also have plenty to clean up after failing to blow the game open until late in the third quarter despite creating numerous turnovers on defense.

“That was a pretty Big Ten win on the road,” head coach James Franklin said. “You got to appreciate winning. It’s hard to do. You watch college football, each week there’s upsets and things. You got to grind it out. So that was a big-time win for us. On the road. It was beautiful to me. Lot of positives to build on.”

Our report card is in from the Lions’ latest win. Here are the grades.

Penn State grade on offense: C

Too harsh? Perhaps. But this feels like the deserved mark for coordinator Mike Yurcich’s attack. It finished with 383 yards but had just 298 at the end of the third quarter. Quarterback Drew Allar was as inefficient as he’s ever been, finishing 16 of 33 for 208 yards and no touchdowns. He was victimized by drops but also made plenty of bad throws himself despite not being tagged with an interception. The one positive was that the offense did not turn the ball over. But they were stopped plenty. Three straight third quarter drives ended with a punt. And, the offense could not find the end zone despite taking over once at the Illinois 43 and once at the home team’s 22. The offensive line allowed three hurries and plenty of pressure and failed to frequently open holes for the running backs.

This will be great film to learn from. But, every player on offense must be better moving forward. If Penn State is lucky, this was an eye-opener on the road that won’t be repeated.

“We have to be more explosive on offense,” Franklin said.

Lions’ grade on defense: A-

Penn State created five turnovers. Four different players had an interception and Dom DeLuca forced a fumble. There were a couple of near misses, too, that would have inflated that number. But, the Lions were fine without them. The defense surrendered only five explosive plays when the first team was in. Pressure was created frequently. We were considering dropping this grade one spot because of the number of missed tackles in addition to some penalties plus the play of the backups in the fourth quarter. But, that didn’t feel like the right decision based on how the group played collectively for four quarters. They do need to clean up the missed tackles, however, as that can become a bad trend in a hurry. But, they took the fight out of Illinois on this day almost from start to finish.

Penn State grade on special teams: B

Penn State had a 52-yard field goal blocked. Otherwise, Alex Felkins, the new starting kicker, was perfect. He connected on attempts from 20, 45, and 28 yards and knocked through each extra point attempt. So why isn’t this grade higher?

For starters, the block is one reason. But punting was an adventure, too. Riley Thompson sent one punt just 30 yards, though he did average 43.8 yards on the day. It does still like a spot where improvements can be made, however. We also dock this grade a bit because, while the Lions are not turning it over in the return game, they aren’t getting much out of it, either, even though there were plenty of opportunities to make explosive plays in this game. Kaden Saunders did have a 16-yard punt return, however, in this one.

Nittany Lions coaching grade: B-

Penn State had so many issues on offense that were execution related. But the game plan felt like it was trying to attack the best part of Illinois’ defense instead of the weakest parts in far too many instances. The loss of Tre Wallace for the week did not help. But this was a sleepy, clunky game for offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s bunch. We already mentioned the special teams miscues. Defensively, Penn State was great. But there were also too many penalties for the second week in a row, which is a discipline issue that must be addressed.

Overall Penn State grade: B-

This felt like a B-minus kind of performance, right? It was average, and fine to beat a team like the Fighting Illini. But Penn State played the kind of game on offense that would get it beat in other weeks. As Franklin said after the game, a road Big Ten win is always an accomplishment. But, the Lions have their eyes set on bigger prizes. A repeat of this game against someone else may stop them from reaching their goals.

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