Penn State vs. Ohio State Position Grades
By Shane Lunnen
Oct 17, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin in the third quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State defeated Penn State 38-10. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports
Coaching:
I will say one positive thing about the coaching before getting to all the negatives. I think the staff had the team ready to go from the start. The defense was smothering in the first quarter and the first offensive drive ended in points. The third drive should have ended in a two-score lead for Penn State, but it was not to be. After that it was all downhill for the team and the coaching staff.
John Donovan, or whoever is calling plays, continues to baffle me. Lined up in shotgun most of the night, Christian Hackenberg was never comfortable. When he lined up under center, things worked out much better. That’s where Hack is most comfortable, yet he continues to be put in bad positions by the coaches. Hack is a round peg and the coaching staff is jamming him through a square hole. On third downs, the Nittany Lions were an unacceptable one-of-12 and on they failed both fourth-down attempts.
The play calls were again not creative. If I’m calling out plays from my couch, surely Ohio State knows what’s coming too. Not a single playaction play was called, which I think would have worked at some point with Barkley running well.
When you are on the road against the top-ranked team, you have to pull out all the stops in my opinion. Penn State played too conservatively to get the job done on offense. Saquon Barkley did all he could, but he can’t do everything. The rest of the offense needed to execute better, but the coaches did them no favors either.
Bob Shoop’s defense did an admirable job given the position the offense and special teams put them in.
We have to face the fact that we are stuck with this play calling for the remainder of this season, but hopefully not beyond if Donovan is shown the door at the end of the season.
The coaches will look competent against the mediocre teams, but right now they just can’t compete with the conference’s best.
Grade: D