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

There’s the good and the bad when it comes to the defensive line. The good is that this Penn State defensive line has been phenomenal stopping the run all season.

Pitt had 25 carries for 24 yards on Saturday, a testament to how absurd the Nittany Lions’ run defense has been.

However, Penn State’s inability to get constant pressure on the quarterback has been an issue. Penn State did have three sacks, and five QB hurries, but only one sack and one QB hurry came by a defensive end (Shaka Toney). In addition, it seemed like Pitt’s QB Kenny Pickett had all day to throw for most of the game, a major reason why he had 372 passing yards.

With all the defensive end talent (Yetur Gross-Matos, Jayson Oweh, Shaka Toney, and Shane Simmons), there’s no reason why there shouldn’t be more pressure being put on the quarterback. It’s a major reason why Penn State hasn’t been able to manufacture many turnovers through the first three games.

Yetur Gross-Matos and Jayson Oweh didn’t make the stat sheet in Saturday’s game as they didn’t have a tackle. Shaka Toney had five tackles in addition to his sack and QB hurry. Shane Simmons had four tackles.

In terms of the defensive tackles, Antonio Shelton had two tackles including a tackle for loss. Robert Windsor also had two tackles. Fred Hansard and PJ Mustipher had a tackle each.