Penn State Football: Grading Nittany Lions performance vs. Michigan

The defensive line has been Penn State’s best positional unit by far this season, but they played their worst game this week against Michigan. Shea Patterson had all day to throw the football as the Nittany Lions only recorded one sack. That sack was by safety Garrett Taylor, not the defensive line.

As a team, Penn State had six QB hurries, and only two of them were by the defensive line. In addition, when Shea Patterson was hurried, he was often able to run for a gain. In terms of tackles for loss, Penn State only had three as a team, and just one of those was by the defensive line.

Furthermore, the Nittany Lions allowed 141 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 41 carries. That’s only 3.4 yards per carry, but that’s a lot compared to most games this year. For example, Penn State allowed only 2.3 yards per carry last week at Iowa.

Two of the Michigan touchdowns were from 12 yards as well, which is uncharacteristic of the Penn State defense. They’ve let teams into the red zone this season, but many times have held the opponent to a field goal.

Defensive end Shaka Toney led the defensive line with seven tackles, a half tackle for loss, and a QB hurry. Defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos had five tackles and a half a tackle for loss.

Defensive tackle Robert Windsor had four tackles, and defensive tackle Antonio Shelton had two tackles and a QB hurry.

If more pressure was put on Shea Patterson by the defensive line, then there’s a decent chance that much of Michigan’s scoring run wouldn’t have happened. Overall, it was an underwhelming performance by the defensive line.