Penn State Football Game Grades: Maryland

Story posted November 14, 2022 in CommRadio, Sports by Logan Bourandas

Penn State made it two wins in a row with a 30-0 victory over the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday.

The blue and white boosted their record to 8-2 on the season while Sean Clifford made history as both the teams all-time leader in passing yards and being the first Penn State quarterback to throw for 10,000 passing yards.

How does that affect this weekend's grades? Let’s find out!

Here’s a look at how each position group performed in Saturday’s win.

Offense: A-

The duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen continues to be unstoppable.

This week it was Singleton who shined in the spotlight with 122 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Allen actually finished the day with more carries, and came away with 73 yards of his own.

For the first half of play the offense was unstoppable, but that’s just one half.

The Nittany Lions recorded a lone field goal in the third quarter and that was it.

Clifford wasn’t in much for the second half but even when he was in he wasn’t at his best with just 139 passing yards and a touchdown.

There was no specific player who played poorly but the Nittany Lions struggled to move the ball regardless.

The game was well over at that point but it wasn’t the offensive domination we had seen from the Nittany Lions in prior weeks.

Defense: A+

Is a shutout good enough?

You really can’t ask for much more from a defensive perspective.

In particular, the front seven played arguably its best game yet.

Taulia Tagovailoa was sacked seven times in the contest as he never looked comfortable from start to finish.

Maryland transfer Chop Robinson had a coming out party against his former team with two of those sacks.

Tagovailoa’s top target in Rakim Jarrett was held silent with just 30 receiving yards which actually led the team.

To add to the greatness of this performance, this all came without both Joey Porter Jr. and Curtis Jacobs who have been two of the unit’s best.

Overall, the Terrapins finished with just 134 total yards on the day which isn’t great.

Coaching: A+

Penn State took the next man up mantra to a whole new level.

We already touched on the defense but the Nittany Lions were also without several offensive lineman including potential first round pick Olu Fashanu, and didn’t allow a single sack.

The Nittany Lions took risks and were overall fun to watch.

Both Nicholas Singleton touchdowns came on fourth and short scenarios and were both well-drawn plays by the Nittany Lions.

This was also arguably the best performance of the season for Manny Diaz with the way his defense performed.

It’s hard finding things to criticize in a shutout win - even James Franklin’s pushups were good!

Logan Bourandas is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email lxb5412@psu.edu.