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Has Penn State football’s defensive line been underwhelming?

By Justin Grasso

STATE COLLEGE, PA - AUGUST 31: Colton Richardson #19 of the Idaho Vandals is sacked by Antonio Shelton #55, Garrett Taylor #17 and Robert Windsor #54 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half at Beaver Stadium on August 31, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - AUGUST 31: Colton Richardson #19 of the Idaho Vandals is sacked by Antonio Shelton #55, Garrett Taylor #17 and Robert Windsor #54 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half at Beaver Stadium on August 31, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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James Franklin hasn’t been all that impressed with Penn State football’s defensive line. Would you agree with that notion?

Heading into the 2019 College Football season, Penn State football had tons of question marks surrounding their team. Which quarterback on the roster was going to replace Trace McSorley? Which running back was going to headline the backfield?

Is the defensive secondary going to be able to step up with some changes? You know, all valid questions for the Nittany Lions. However, one unit on the team didn’t seem to have many question marks. That just so happens to be the defensive line.

With names like Shaka Toney, Robert Windsor, Jayson Oweh, and Yetur Gross-Matos headlining the unit, you would think Penn State would give opposing quarterbacks a tough time on the field. Through three games though, the pass rush has been somewhat underwhelming.

Would you agree? Because Penn State head coach James Franklin tends to believe so too. Earlier this week, when asked about it the progress of the defensive line so far, Franklin tried to be as honest as possible. To no surprise, he was pretty blunt about his assessment.

Franklin’s honest assessment

“At this stage, I probably would have thought that the defensive line would have been a little more disruptive,” Franklin said as he spoke to the media earlier in the week. “Especially from a sack perspective and a pressure perspective.”

Penn State has racked up a fair amount of sacks through three weeks of playing. However, those numbers do not solely come from the defensive line. Four of Penn State’s eleven sacks do come from another position such as linebacker, or defensive back.

Only one pass rusher as of right now has three sacks, and that happens to be Yetur Gross-Matos. While that’s not a bad number, it’s necessary to point out that 2.5 of them came from the first game against Idaho. Has the pass rush been lousy thus far? I wouldn’t say that.

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But as Franklin said, many would’ve believed the pass rush would have been a lot stronger at this point in the season. Over the last two weeks, we couldn’t help but credit Buffalo and Pitt’s offensive lines for keeping Penn State’s pass rushers in check.

Moving forward, though, that needs to change. This group has too much talent to be this underwhelming — especially against inferior opponents. The schedule only gets tougher, and the back end of the defense needs help. If Penn State wants to remain unbeaten, their pass rush is going to have to play at the level they are more than capable of playing at.

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