Penn State Football: Grading Nittany Lions vs. Michigan State

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EAST LANSING, MI – OCTOBER 26: Running back Elijah Collins #24 of the Michigan State Spartans carries the ball against the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half at Spartan Stadium on October 26, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) /

. . . DEFENSIVE LINE . A

The best positional unit on this team had a bounce-back game on Saturday as they only allowed 83 rushing yards on 31 carries, which is 2.7 yards per carry. Michigan State’s one touchdown was scored on the ground, but it was only a four-yard touchdown, not a big play.

Furthermore, the defensive line got a ton of pressure on Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke, as they had Penn State’s two sacks, two and a half of Penn State’s tackles for loss and three of Penn State’s five QB hurries. Defensive end Jayson Oweh had both of these sacks and forced a fumble on both of them, one which was recovered by the Nittany Lions.

Yetur Gross-Matos had three tackles, including a half a tackle for loss and two QB hurries. Shaka Toney had four tackles, and Robert Windsor had two tackles and a QB hurry. P.J Mustipher had three tackles as well.

A lot of the pressure by Penn State’s defensive line led to bad throws by Michigan State, who completed only 19 of 43 of their passes and had two interceptions. The Spartans probably could have thrown as many as six interceptions in the game. That’s how many times Penn State was close.

I’m fairly confident that every single main contributor of this defensive line is going to end up in the NFL in some capacity. They all have the talent and especially the athleticism (Reminder: Jayson Oweh runs a 4.33 40-yard dash and it showed Saturday).

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