Penn State Football: Grading the Nittany Lions’ performance vs. Pitt

Penn State defeated Pitt 17-10 on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium to move to 3-0 on the season.

The 100th and final meeting between Penn State football and Pitt was a nail biter, coming down to the last play, but the Nittany Lions hung on to beat the Panthers 17-10.

Penn State certainly didn’t play their best football, as they allowed 396 yards, only scored 17 points and didn’t force a single turnover. However, the Nittany Lions were able to come up with defensive stops when it mattered, ultimately leading to the team only allowing 10 points.

“Bend, don’t break” has been something we’ve seen from Penn State defenses since Brent Pry took over as defensive coordinator in 2016. It’s great to see when your offense is putting up 30-plus points-per-game, but certainly nerve-racking when your offense is struggling, as it was on Saturday afternoon.

While I’m sure many Penn State fans are disappointed at the close result and overall sloppy play, a win is a win. A young team with a first-year starting quarterback is 3-0 going into conference play, and that’s all you can ask for at this point.

As I’ve said after the previous two games, Sean Clifford and the rest of the offense have a ton of room for improvement going forward, and they’re certainly going to have to do that as conference play begins in a week and a half at Maryland.

Just remember, in Trace McSorley’s first season as starting quarterback, Penn State started 2-2. We all know how that ended. That being said, let’s get into positional grades!