Penn State Football: Position Grades versus Georgia State
![STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 16: Saeed Blacknall #13 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates a 35 yard touchdown with Tommy Stevens #2 against the Georgia State Panthers at Beaver Stadium on September 16, 2017 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 16: Saeed Blacknall #13 of the Penn State Nittany Lions celebrates a 35 yard touchdown with Tommy Stevens #2 against the Georgia State Panthers at Beaver Stadium on September 16, 2017 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/c7440ea496b01cf9129dac64331ce4d1f9a22b08d47c8aa1ea48a83059432129.jpg)
Defensive Line
The defensive line allowed some big plays in the run game and just couldn’t overwhelm the Panthers. However, when the team needed pressure or a stop in the run game, it came up big. The bigger names from previous weeks didn’t produce at the same level.
The younger guys took their turn at making big plays. Shaka Toney and Daniel Joseph got into the backfield a couple of times keeping Manning on his toes. Toney forced a fumble off a sack and the defense recovered to stop the Panthers early in the third.
The two redshirt freshmen combined for seven tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. Both players hadn’t really produced, but it seems to be a recurring story with this D-Line the last two years. This year the defense has 11 sacks but no one on the defense has more than two. It’s a group effort and that’s what makes them so dangerous. It’s impossible to find and stop just one player on this unit.
Regardless, Penn State football does need to improve a little bit on the run. The Panthers Taz Bateman rushed for 100 yards and found some holes on the defense.