Penn State vs. Michigan Position Grades

Linebackers

A bad situation just got worse on Saturday for the Nittany Lions at linebacker.

Brandon Smith was ejected in the first half for a very questionable targeting foul.  It wasn’t targeting in my opinion as Smith had his hands out to the defend the pass and possibly intercept it.  The Wolverine receiver was already down low and the helmet to helmet was just an unfortunate consequence.  To have it confirmed in replay was even more egregious by the referee.

Then to add insult to injury, Smith’s replacement at middle linebacker, walkon redshirt freshman Jan Johnson, left the game with a knee injury.  It was announced after the game that it was an ACL and he will be out for the rest of the season.

So, Penn State is left with no middle linebackers.  Should the team have open tryouts this week?

One positive, true freshman Cameron Brown did have 10 tackles, and one was for a loss.

Grade: D

Secondary

Let’s start with a positive here.  The Nittany Lions secondary did hold Michigan under 200 yards passing.  However, when you can gash the defense with the run, there is no reason to throw.

Cornerback Grant Haley missed another game this week.  Hopefully he can make it back soon.

The safeties were the busiest players all afternoon.  Malik Golden led the team with 11 tackles, eight of them solo.  He also had a pass breakup and a tackle for loss.  Marcus Allen had 7 tackles, all of them solo, and added two pass breakups.

I did notice the tackling in the secondary was better.  But Michigan was slicing through the Penn State front seven.  I’d  like to see this group be more opportunistic and create some turnovers, but that could apply to the whole defense.  It’s going to be hard to do when they are so banged up.

Grade: C