Blue White Illustrated

think that group is doing really well. … Like all of them, I can sit here and cri- tique areas and things that we want them to get better at, but overall, pretty good." COMMENT At times, the Nittany Lions have put it all together and shown the kind of grind-it-out potential that they've lacked even as they've re- emerged as Big Ten title contenders. On their third-quarter TD drive vs. Pitt, they ran 13 plays (six passes, seven runs), holding the ball for nearly five minutes. Against Iowa, they had a 15-play, 85- yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that lasted 5 minutes, 40 sec- onds. They also got a first down on the ground late in the game that allowed them to run out the clock. Pass protec- tion has been a problem at times, as Pitt and Iowa combined for six sacks. But through six games, Penn State was sec- ond in the Big Ten in total offense, so clearly this group has been doing some- thing right. GRADE B DEFENSIVE LINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT Prior to the Michi- gan game, Yetur Gross-Matos and Shaka Toney were both averaging .92 sacks per game to rank fourth in the Big Ten. KEY STAT Fourteen players had been credited with at least a partial sack dur- ing the first half of the season. Starting defensive ends Gross-Matos and Toney were leading the way with 5.5 sacks apiece. FRANKLIN SAYS "[Toney is] really one of the most cerebral guys that we have. Once he gets your cadence, now you're combining him having a really good feel for what your cadence is [with an ability] to anticipate and combine his athletic ability with his mental approach to the game. We're very pleased with him. I do think he set the tone [early in the Purdue game]. If you can beat someone like that, it kind of gets in their head and creates some confidence issues, and now we've got some other guys rotating in doing some things as well. We've got some packages where we have three defensive ends on the field together." COMMENT After amassing seven sacks vs. Idaho in week one, the Lions totaled only four in their next two games vs. Buffalo and Pitt. That prompted a mild rebuke from Franklin, as the coach said after the Pitt game, "We've got to get to the quarterback more consistently." His comment apparently lit a fire, because the Nittany Lions were dominant in their next three games, both against the pass and the run. Heading into the Michigan game, Penn State was tied for third in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 4.5 sacks per game. The Lions were also very effective against the run through six games, as opponents were averaging only 53.8 yards per game on the ground and had combined to score only one rushing touchdown. That per-game rushing av- erage was the third-lowest in the FBS, trailing only Wisconsin and Utah. Can't ask for much more than that. GRADE A LINEBACKER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Micah Parsons made the first big defensive play of the season, stopping Idaho's Logan Kendall cold on fourth-and-short in the first quarter of the season opener. Through six games, the sophomore outside line- backer already had six tackles for loss, one more than his 13-game total from last season. KEY STAT Three of Penn State's top five tacklers through six games were line- backers. Parsons was leading the way with 31 stops, while Cam Brown had 28 and Jan Johnson 25. FRANKLIN SAYS "[Johnson] has been a culture-driver for us. That's a term that I really like in our program, and I think Jan is that type of guy. Our players get a little sick of us – me and Coach [Brent] Pry – talking about Jan Johnson, but it's a great story. It's a great story for college football. It's a great story for Penn State. His leadership, him and Cam Brown at the linebacker position, the leadership that they provide for our entire de- fense… is going to be really important, because we do have a young team." COMMENT A year ago, Penn State's line- backers combined to make 18.5 tackles for loss. This year, through six games, the linebackers already had 14 TFL between them. As expected, the starting three- some has been solid, and backups Ellis Brooks and Jesse Luketa have been com- ing on strong, too. When Parsons was tossed for targeting early in the Maryland game, the defense didn't skip a beat with Luketa filling in. In addition, the early peeks we've gotten at true freshman Brandon Smith suggest that he's going to be another difference-maker once he gains some experience. GRADE A SECONDARY IN THE SPOTLIGHT John Reid had two of the Nittany Lions' five interceptions in the first half of the season, one of which he returned 36 yards for a game- changing touchdown against Buffalo. KEY STAT The Lions were surrendering 205.8 passing yards per game through six games, ranking 10th in the Big Ten. That doesn't sound so good, but their low ranking was largely due to the fact that opponents had been forced to aban- don the running game. The Lions had faced 204 passing attempts prior to the Michigan game. Only three Big Ten teams – Michigan State (219), Nebraska (216) and Purdue (214) – had faced more. FRANKLIN SAYS "We think that we've got two of the better corners in the country, we really do, not just the con- ference, but the country, and they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. They are really playing well in both the run and pass game." COMMENT The Nittany Lions have given up some big plays, but to borrow an oft-heard phrase from the waning years of the Paterno era, sometimes you've got to give credit to the other guy. Pitt's Kenny Pickett played the game of his life, and the Panthers also boast one of the better wide receiver tandems Penn State will likely see all year in Taysir Mack and Maurice Ffrench. When you think about what Pitt did to UCF a week later, racking up 439 yards of total offense and 30 first downs against an opponent that hadn't

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