Secondary
While Penn State football couldn’t defend the run at all on Friday, the passing defense wasn’t terrible. Granted, they were playing against a freshman quarterback on Illinois, but still, the secondary play was solid, as they only allowed 166 passing yards.
One of the plays that was a problem for the secondary was the trick play wide receiver passing touchdown that caught Amani Oruwariye by surprise. Other than that, there were a few careless plays such as the Tariq Castro-Fields pass interference on a third and long, and the Nick Scott dropped fumble.
Safeties Jonathan Sutherland and Garrett Taylor combined for 15 tackels and two and a half tackles for loss. Amani Oruwariye had three tackles, and Tariq Castro-Fields had a tackle and a pass defended.
If the secondary can clean up some of the sloppy play on Saturday, then it’ll tremendously help Penn State football’s chances because this unit has shown some flashes.