Blue White Illustrated

PICKED TO PIECES GAME GRADES QUARTERBACKS After getting off to a slow UCF's QB brings his 'A game' against Penn State's secondary LORI  SHONTZ | blue white contRibutoR start vs. Eastern Michigan, Christian Hackenberg was on target all night vs. UCF. He completed 21 of 28 for 262 yards with a key touchdown and no interceptions. GRADE B+ RUNNING BACKS Nobody runs harder than They tried playing man. Tried playing zone. Even tried a little half-man, halfzone. None of it worked, not against UCF quarterback Blake Bortles, who picked apart Penn State's secondary all night. For the most part, the Nittany Lions couldn't think of much to say about it. "One thing I know we can say," defensive coordinator John Butler said, after having listed all of the defense schemes that Penn State used in an attempt to fool Bortles. "We emptied the game plan." "We threw it all out there," agreed safety Ryan Keiser, "and they just beat us. " No one on Penn State's defense was surprised at what UCF did. Bortles, a junior, entered the game with more than 4,500 career passing yards, and Bill O'Brien had labeled him an NFL prospect in the days leading up to the game. The guy even has his own hashtag: #bortleskombat. So it was no surprise that Bortles could make an impact. Or that he put the ball exactly where his receivers needed it. He opened the game by directing a 13-play touchdown drive, spread passes across the field to six different receivers and completed 20 of 27 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns. "Once we got rolling, we knew what their game plan was," cornerback Jordan Lucas said. "We knew where they were trying to attack us. And their quarterback just made plays. He threw to their receivers, and they made plays. They came to play together." And every time late in the game that Penn State came close to closing the gap, Bortles directed a drive that the Nittany Lions were unable to stop. By the end of the game, #bortleskombat was trending in the greater Orlando area. "Anytime you've got a quarterback like S e P t e m b e R that who's accurate, who's got a strong arm, he's big, he can stay in the pocket and he can run, [that's] a very difficult challenge, O'Brien said. "And he played " a great game tonight. " As cornerback Trevor Williams said of Bortles, "He brought his A game tonight." Yet the Lions did not help themselves. Even when the secondary had the right coverage, the UCF receivers still ended up with the catch — " I've just got to work on my ball disruption, Lucas said. And Bor" tles is known for his quick release, but even given that, Penn State wasn't able to mount much of a pass rush. In the postgame news conference, Butler spent more time giving credit to Bortles than blaming his secondary — or the pass rush. (Caveat: He did say he needed to look at game film, a common theme in the postgame media room.) "[Bortles] wasn't gonna take a sack, " Butler said. "A lot of times quarterbacks take a sack [when] they're confused, they're not sure where to go with the football. We didn't fool him enough coveragewise, we didn't cover enough and obviously we didn't get to the quarterback. " The result? Half of Penn State's top tacklers (with six each) were defensive backs, Lucas and Williams. Safety Malcolm Willis was next with five tackles. By the fourth quarter, as part of his continuing effort to find the right combination or something that would rattle Bortles, at one point, Butler moved safety Adrian Amos to corner in place of Williams. But that didn't matter, either. "I feel like it was a test for us," Lucas said. "It's just like in school– you have that first test, and when you see something like it again on the final, you know the answer. So I think it's good that we saw this early. " 1 4 , 2 0 1 3 8 Zach Zwinak. He finished with 128 yards and three touchdowns. His fourthquarter fumble was a tough end to a valiant performance. GRADE B RECEIVERS Another fine game for Allen Robinson. That's a given. But it was good to see Richy Anderson and Adam Breneman get into the mix, too. GRADE B+ OFFENSIVE LINE The line frequently gave Hackenberg all the time he needed, and the running game was effective, although more than a few of Penn State's 193 rushing yards reflected Zwinak's pile-dragging power. GRADE B DEFENSIVE LINE After holding strong in the first two games, Penn State's defensive front had a tough night. The Lions had only two tackles for loss and didn't sack Blake Bortles even once. GRADE D LINEBACKERS Mike Hull returned, but Penn State was gouged by UCF on the ground. All too often, there was nobody in position to make a tackle when Storm Johnson or one of his fellow running backs got past the line of scrimmage. GRADE D DEFENSIVE BACKS Credit where credit is due: Bortles made some tremendous throws, and UCF's receivers caught everything that came their way. That said, the Lions really seemed to have their signals crossed at times. GRADE D SPECIAL TEAMS There were some bright spots here, notably Sam Ficken's 47yard field goal and Eugene Lewis's 44yard kickoff return. GRADE B COACHES This was the first game in which it seemed the coaches' low-impact practice routine may have affected the team's tackling. Still, it's not as if Penn State has much of a choice. GRADE B CROWD Official attendance was 92,855, and there were plenty of bare patches in the upper decks. But the student section was bringing the noise. As usual, the White Out enthusiasm was an impressive thing to behold. GRADE B b l u e w h i t e o n l i n e . c o m

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