Penn State Football: Grading Nittany Lions performance vs. Michigan

I haven’t criticized coaching decisions all season, but there were a few questionable ones in this game. The first is the decision not to give Noah Cain more than five carries.

No, I don’t know what happened behind the scenes. As far as we know, Cain wasn’t disciplined, and this was a coaching decision. Cain had over 100 yards and a touchdown in the last two games, and still only got five carries in this game. That’s mind-boggling to me.

If Penn State wants to wear down a great Michigan State defense next week, they’re going to need to utilize Cain.

The second issue was how Penn State’s defense got burned by Michigan’s game plan. Michigan’s game plan was taken from Ohio State in last year’s White Out game. The Penn State secondary leaves wide receivers with a lot of room in order to prevent big plays. “Bend, don’t break” is what the Penn State’s defense has looked like since Brent Pry has been the defensive coordinator.

However, Ohio State’s game plan from last year worked perfectly against them once again. Michigan ran screens and short passes and drove all the way down the field that way rather than trying to throw deep and make big plays.

There’s a good possibility we see that game plan against Penn State for the rest of the season. Adjustments need to be made to ensure it’s not as effective.

However, I do need to give the coaching staff credit in the sense that they still ended up winning the game. In the past, this is a game that I think Penn State loses. Over the last few seasons, Penn State has blown leads against Ohio State multiple times, and leads against Michigan State multiple times to eventually lose the game.

In this game, the Nittany Lions may have allowed Michigan back in, but they held on to win. That’s progress for sure. Part of becoming an “elite” program is finding ways to win games even when the team isn’t at its best. That was the case this week, and the coaching staff deserves credit in that sense.