Taking a deeper dive into what went wrong for Penn State Football this season

Penn State Football’s injuries

“Excuses”

While the great teams can usually manage some injuries, you are lying to yourself if you believe that the injuries that Penn State Football has sustained this season aren’t worth discussing, as they certainly haven’t done the team any favors.

PJ Mustipher was arguably the Nittany Lions’ best defensive lineman before his injury, and his absence was noticeable against Illinois and Ohio State, where the Illini and Buckeyes had their way on the ground against the Nittany Lions.

It is also no coincidence that the Nittany Lions were up 17-3 against Iowa when Sean Clifford went down, and eventually lost 23-20.

Clifford was clearly still not in great shape two weeks later as Illinois came to town, and he was far from his normal self, and the offense suffered as a result.

Should the staff have been better prepared to handle losing some key players to injury? Absolutely.

But, losing one of your best players and also the starter at the most important position in the sport are going to negatively impact any team.