2022 Penn State football game grades: Minnesota
After playing in many tough environments on the road to open up the season, Penn State was treated to the White Out, and the home team took full advantage of it.
The blue and white ran through the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 45-17 rout to get back in the win column.
Here’s a look at how each position group performed in the win.
Offense: A-
For three quarters of the game, the Nittany Lions played lights out offensively.
Sean Clifford was able to weather the storm after dealing with early boos from the crowd and overthrowing a receiver which led to an interception and a Golden Gophers field goal.
From there, Clifford went on to have one of his best games of the season by throwing four touchdown passes, with two going to tight ends.
The offense remained balanced as Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen ran for over 70 yards, with the former finding the endzone twice.
In total, the offense finished with 479 total yards, and dominated the second half with 28 points in the final 30 minutes.
It was exactly what the doctor ordered after a rough road trip the week prior, and another tough test awaits next week.
Defense: A
The crowd benefited this group as the defense got into a rhythm early following several Golden Gopher false start penalties, and they kept that momentum from start to finish.
Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was far from comfortable in his first career start, with only nine completions on the day.
Minnesota tried to run their offense through star running back Mohammed Ibrahim, which didn’t work as he ran the ball 30 times, and while he did finish with 102 yards, he only racked up 3.4 yards per carry in the process.
The Golden Gophers only picked up seven points in the second half, while the Nittany Lions pulled away in the blowout victory.
Ji’Ayir Brown also came away with an interception which was the lone turnover on the day for the blue and white, but a high number in that category wasn’t needed on Saturday.
Coaching: A+
The days following the Michigan loss were tough for James Franklin and his staff.
Franklin received a flurry of criticism for the loss and responded in arguably the best way possible.
Following a week where the Nittany Lions got destroyed in every asset of the game, they were able to flip the script just a week later.
Penn State won in some key categories by picking up just half of the number of penalties than their counterpart and kept Clifford clean in the pocket as he wasn’t brought down for a sack at all.
Although the Nittany Lions didn’t win the time of possession battle, the blue and white still held the ball for 10 more minutes compared to the week prior.
This was the exact turnaround that this team needed, and we’ll see what that translates to next week against an Ohio State team that remains one of the best in the country.
Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.
