Closer Look: Penn State vs Temple

QB

After re-watching the game, Bolden had the better game.  He’ll still make his fair share of mistakes, but he played better than McGloin.  Significantly better?  Not at all, but he did play better.

As for their play, like I was saying…Bolden was Bolden.  Made some great throws, and then he made some stupid throws.  He’s still a young QB who is going through the growing pains so it’s not like the inconsistent play isn’t expected.  I think he is slowly improving, but he needs to start getting all the snaps instead of looking over his shoulder after every bad play.  One last note for Bolden, he had ice in his veins the very last drive.  He completed a dart to Devon Smith, and then threw a perfect pass to Moye on the slant.  That can’t be overlooked.

As for McGloin, it was also his usual game too.  Was erratic, but made the plays.  Forced a few things, and still doesn’t ever look for his underneath WR.

RB

Not much to say here in Silas Redd’s case.  When he has room, he’s going to get the yards.  When he doesn’t have room, he’ll still probably get some yards.  Bottom line, he really is a good back.  Very quick, makes guys miss with ease, has the speed to outrun everyone, very tough to bring down, powerful, and he doesn’t fumble.  Yes, I’m very high on Redd.

Can’t say the same thing about Beachum.  I just don’t think he should be getting 10 carries a game, but he is a good 3rd Down Back.  Whether it’s in a 3rd and Long situation or 3rd and Short.  He’s the best pass blocker at RB, and is the most powerful RB too.  Solid player, but don’t think he should have a huge role in the offense.

WR

Better week out of this group.  Still a few passes here or there, but all in all a very solid day.  Moye made some very good plays, and Brown wasn’t too shabby himself.  Let’s hope they build off this game, and get back on track for the year.

OL

Another OK game, but they actually struggled more than you would think (Well, at least IMO).  Troutman did well, definitely the best OL we have right now.  Okoli struggled more than he should.  Really guessing the ankle had something to do with his struggles because he was a step too slow this week.  Barham had a bad day, and is struggling a lot this year.  More than he should be.  Really, he looks to have regressed.  Stankiewitch had his first bad game.  He got pushed back far too easily, which is a concern considering that Stank’s most famous moment was Cam Heyward (OSU) pushing him back like he was a blowup doll.  Pannell did pretty well, especially considering how poorly everyone else did.

DL

I love Still and Hill.  Such an awesome duo.  First, Still has improved so much since last year it’s not even funny.  If someone would of told me he would be playing this well this season, I wouldn’t have believed it.  He really must have put in the work this offseason.  After last season, he was probably a 5th or 4th Round pick.  As of now?  I’d say he is solidly in the 3rd and will probably make it into the 2nd if he continues such strong play.  Really like a whole new player.  Second, Hill really came on later last year.  He was super quick off the ball, and guess what he did this offseason?  Lost 15-20 pounds and is even quicker.  Couldn’t ask for a better DT duo, honestly.

As for the game, Still was double teamed quite a bit.  So what did he do?  Fight through it, and made the play..if Hill already didn’t.  Vice versa.

Crawford and Lattimore both played the run decently, but neither got much pressure on the QB at all.  Just a normal game we have come to expect out of them.  I think Crawford struggled little bit more than he should though.  As for Stanley, he didn’t play as well as his stat line indicated.  He still got OK pressure on the QB, and made some other plays, but it wasn’t a great performance by any means.

LB

Mauti played his best game this year.  He isn’t quite at the level Lee or Connor was, but he’s getting there.  He’s starting to really play very well.  Hodges, Hodges, Hodges.  It’s tough to say exactly what he is missing.  He’s big, strong, fast, and does have good instincts.  He just can’t finish the plays.  It’ll come with time, at least I hope.

As for the MLB spot, I really do like Fortt better.  It’s close, but Fortt just sticks out to me more.  Carson plays a pretty good game, but I was kind of hoping he’d play really well since they moved Mauti from MLB to get him into the lineup.    Either way though, both play a good amount so it doesn’t matter who starts.

DB

They played a good game, but half of that was because both of Temple’s QBs played a terrible game.  Lynn was his normal self, as he bounced back from the Alabama game in which he struggled a little bit.  Powell wasn’t all that bad either.  I didn’t mind the PI.  He got beat and then lost where the ball was so instead of conceding a TD (or so he thought), he pushed down the WR.  Sukay still looks to be a second late on some plays which is an improvement from where he has been at in previous years.  He’s no longer out of position…now he just needs to recognize the plays a split second faster.  Finally Drew Astorino.  Good player, period.  Without the shoulder injury, he has been playing very well.  Have no complaints about his play.

STs

Ugh.  This will lose us a game this year.  I really hope Fera eventually takes over the PKing duties because I don’t think he could be any worse.