Blue White Illustrated

FEELING THE HEAT Hackenberg frustrated by offense's recent struggles N A T E   B A U E R | N B A U E R @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O m ANN ARBOR, Mich. – And to think, the season started so well for the Nittany Lions. Call it fool's gold or a blind spot created by an overeager fan base. The weaknesses of this year's Penn State football team are like an escaped prisoner surrounded by helicopters, police vehicles and dozens of blazing spotlights. In other words, there's nowhere to hide. Though Penn State's offensive line will largely be blamed for the ongoing issues, some of the attention and criticism sur- rounding the team's performances through back-to-back losses against Northwestern and Michigan, respec- tively, has shi@ed to quarterback Chris- tian Hackenberg. Lamenting his Nittany Lions' 18-13 loss to the Wolverines Saturday night, head coach James Franklin was asked how Hackenberg has been affected by a blocking scheme more porous than any in recent program history. "I think he's frustrated," Franklin said. "Obviously he's had some success since he's been here at Penn State and he's get- ting way too many pressures and way too many hits, and when those things hap- pen, that's when you really have to be mentally tough. You've gotta be physi- cally tough and you've gotta make sure that you're not starting to fall into bad habits, and that's easier said than done. "Overall, I think he's doing some really nice things. The most important thing is, we gotta protect him, we gotta keep him upright, we gotta keep people off of him." Lately, that has been a seemingly im- possible task. The sophomore, hyped in the off-sea- son as a potential No. 1 NFL dra@ pick – regardless of which year he decides to leave Happy Valley – has undoubtedly has come back to earth following the successes of a 4-0 start and a thrilling series of wins dating back to the 2013 season. A@er a performance vs. Michigan in which he completed 21 of 32 passes for just 160 yards and a touchdown with one ill-conceived interception, though, Hackenberg's teammates were asked whether or not they'd say or do anything to li@ the spirits of their co-captain. Jordan Lucas, the Nittany Lions' out- spoken junior cornerback, offered this: "One thing that I know for sure is that people who criticize him a lot of the times really don't know football and they don't know the positions that he's put in," said Lucas. "So, their word doesn't really mean anything. It's just their word. It's not facts. "Christian is a great player. We just have some things to work over. He's a high-spirit guy and I honestly don't think he needs other people to get his spirits up." Whether that proves to be true remains to be seen, but clearly, with more arrows pointed toward Hackenberg than ever before, teammates and coaches aren't backing down in their support of him. G A M E G R A D E S QUARTERBACKSChristian Hackenberg led PSU to a comeback vs. Michigan in 2012. Presented with a similar opportu- nity this year, he threw for an inten- tional grounding penalty. Hack appears to be regressing. GRADED RUNNING BACKSBill Belton and Akeel Lynch showed flashes, but the road was too rough to travel long. GRADEC+ RECEIVERSDaeSean Hamilton did what he could, grabbing seven catches for 58 yards, but he didn't get much help. GRADEB OFFENSIVE LINEHackenberg was sacked six times and harrassed almost every play thereafter. Although the run game was effective at first, PSU couldn't sus- tain it. GRADED DEFENSIVE LINEAgain, this was the high- est-performing unit. From Anthony Zettel's interception to Deion Barnes' sack, this unit showed up ready to play. GRADEA- LINEBACKERSMike Hull was all over the place – as usual – and Nyeem Wartman gave grade-A effort, despite being nicked up. But this unit wasn't flawless. GRADEB DEFENSIVE BACKSDevin Gardner aver- aged just 8 yards per pass, but one of them was a 43-yard touchdown that gave Michigan the intial lead. GRADEB- SPECIAL TEAMSSam Ficken converted his two field goal attempts. Otherwise, Chris Gulla averaged just 33 yards per punt and the return game was nonexistent. There was one nice return and a timely onside kick recovery; both were called back by penalties. GRADEC+ COACHES It was the right idea taking a safety and trying their hand at an onside kick late in the game, but the fake punt in the third quarter was anything but. GRADEC CROWDThere was talk throughout the week that Michigan students would protest the kickoff and leave the team hanging high and dry during its first- ever Big Ten night game. That didn't re- ally happen. GRADEA O c T O B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O m 6 CLOSING TIME Hackenberg was sacked six times.

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