Game Grades: Penn State vs. Ohio State

Story posted October 31, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Ethan Ellis

On Saturday night in primetime, the Penn State football team traveled to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

This Big Ten rivalry matchup was seen as a must-win for Penn State to have any hope at competing in the Big Ten championship or even the playoffs.

While the Lions wound up dropping the game, 33-24, the score does not accurately reflect just how good this team played.

Let’s take a look at how each position group performed during the loss.

Passing: A-

Sean Clifford is back, and it appears that he is healed from his injury sustained at Iowa.

While he was wearing some extra padding in the injured area, that did not seem to affect his throwing capabilities.

Clifford threw for 361 yards and one touchdown all while taking some massive hits.

Unfortunately, Clifford still struggles sometimes to recognize open receivers and still makes some bad decisions.

Overall, though, a very impressive performance from Clifford.

Rushing: D-

As they have all season, Penn State still cannot get their run game together.

John Lovett led the team in rushing with only 20 yards on 13 carries.

The team had only 33 yards in rushing in total on 29 carries which resulted in a dismal 1.1 average gain per rush.

And while there were two rushing touchdowns scored, one on a trick play by Jahan Dotson, this team continues to heavily rely on its passing game.

Defense: B-

It almost seemed as if the defense from the first half and second half were two different defenses.

In the first half, the defense was able to shut down OSU’s run game and severely limit Treveyon Henderson’s ability to move the ball.

But in the second half of the game, the defense started to fall apart and began to give up big plays that ultimately led to Ohio State running away with the game.

The bright spot of this defense continues to be in the red zone where Penn State only allowed one touchdown during Ohio State’s many trips to the red zone.

Coaching: C+

While James Franklin and Company did do a much better job at calling plays in this game than against Illinois, they still aren’t doing great.

Franklin seemed to be more aggressive in this game which showed when midway through the second quarter, Franklin went for it on fourth down from the Ohio State 43 and failed to convert.

The coaching staff seems to have whipped the team back into shape but still needs to know when to be aggressive and when to pun the ball away.

Overall, though, a much more impressive performance than last week.

The team overall showed that they have moved on from the Illinois upset and are looking forward to the end of the season.

This team has potential and could very well wind up winning at least two more games.

Ethan Ellis is a first-year student majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, please email him at ece5133@psu.edu.