Penn State vs. Northwestern Position Grades

Nov 7, 2015; Evanston, IL, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin during the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

Coaching:

Not using timeouts until it was too late was absolutely baffling near the end of the game.  James Franklin took the blame for that afterwards.  Kudos to him for doing that at least.  It wasn’t the sole reason for the loss, but it definitely contributed.

After a couple weeks when we thought the offensive play calling was showing signs of being an FBS offense, offensive coordinator John Donovan decided to go back into his shell during the first half versus Northwestern.  I lost count of how many times I yelled at the tv to run the ball and Hackenberg would drop back to pass and throw it incomplete or well short of the sticks on 3rd down.  There was absolutely no balance to begin the game and if Penn State would have started faster, they probably would have won.

Defensive coordinator Bob Shoop won’t be spared here either.  His defense has been burned by running quarterbacks and the running game in general.  The tackling needs to be a point of emphasis and hopefully it will be during the week off.

Just another so-so performance from this staff.  Too many errors on all three phases of the game so it goes on the coaches not having the team prepared.

Grade: D