Penn State Football: Position grades versus Michigan State

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STATE COLLEGE, PA – OCTOBER 13: Shareef Miller #48 of the Penn State Nittany Lions tackles La’Darius Jefferson #15 of the Michigan State Spartans on October 13, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

Defensive Line

The defensive line played a pretty decent game, with one huge blunder. To start, the defensive line had three sacks, which accounted for all the sack that the Nittany Lions had on Saturday. That’s pretty good.

Furthermore, they allowed 123 yards rushing, which wasn’t great, but also wasn’t awful by any means. Defensive end Yetur-Gross-Matos, who has proven to be one of the best defensive players on the roster, had 2.5 tackles for loss, including half a sack. He had four tackles total on the day.

Defensive end Shareef Miller also chipped into the effort, as he had two tackles for loss including a sack. Defensive tackle Kevin Givens had a sack, and defensive tackle Robert Windsor had a half a sack.

It was also good to see defensive end Shane Simmons back on the field for the first time this season, as he had two tackles. Defensive tackle P.J Mustipher had two tackles.

The big blunder for the game was when the had a goal line stand, and then newly-converted defensive tackle C.J Thorpe got called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, giving the Spartans a first down. Of course, Michigan State took advantage of that and scored a touchdown.

While the defensive line played solid game, you can’t be committing bad penalties like that.

Grade: B

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