Penn State Football: Game Grades for the Victory Over UCF

Mandatory Credit: Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

Running Back :

This was certainly the hardest position grouping to grade and I really couldn’t decipher how to judge the trio of running backs because of the offensive line.

Neither Zach Zwinak nor Bill Belton really got into a rhythm during the ball game, consistently finding themselves stopped at, or short, of the line of scrimmage. Zwinak managed to finish with 32 yards and a touchdown and he broke off Penn State’s longest run of the game, 12 yards. Belton got even less going and finished with 16 yards on 10 carries.

While much of their struggles was due to the inexperienced offensive line, there were times when both backs tried to make too much happen instead of making one cut and getting up field.

Akeel Lynch, traditionally the less-used back of the trio, was only given a single carry and picked up seven yards on the rush.

The running backs did pick up a few short-yard third down conversions which help their grade just a tad.

Grade – C+