Blue White Illustrated

GAME GRADES B Y T I M O W E N QUARTERBACK Rusty from the begin- ning, whether he was overthrowing or under-throwing receivers, Christian Hackenberg struggled to find a consis- tent rhythm in the first half and cer- tainly didn't find it in the second. Sure, he was under pressure – as he was all of last season – but not all of the 10 total sacks were attributable solely to the of- fensive line. However, that near-pick- six in the third quarter? That was an advertised pass that shouldn't have been thrown, nor called (twice in a row), and it proved to be the knockout punch. GRADE F RUNNING BACKS When Akeel Lynch burst free on a 42-yard run touchdown run in the first quarter, it gave the of- fense a boost after failing to score on the opening drive. But with only six more carries after that, he didn't have the opportunity to do much else. That wasn't his fault. Lynch, however, did struggle some in pass blocking, as did everyone else. GRADE C+ RECEIVERS Freshman Brandon Polk's end around for 36 yards on the first of- fensive play of the game was notewor- thy, as was Chris Godwin's stat line: five catches for 81 yards. But, especially in the second half, this unit struggled mightily to gain separation. GRADE C OFFENSIVE LINE Ten sacks. That's all that needs to be written. Sure, the of- fensive line appeared to have made progress in the run game in the first half and not all 10 of those sacks were solely because of the O-line, but with an array of false starts and a holding penalty – plus 10 sacks – there's no other grade to give this unit. GRADE F DEFENSIVE LINE Using a rotation of tackles and ends, Penn State held Tem- ple to 65 rushing yards in the first half. But the defensive front wore down to- ward the end, allowing RB Jahad Thomas to rush for a 24-yard touch- down to give Temple a two-score lead in the fourth quarter. GRADE C- LINEBACKERS Brandon Bell played the first half like his hair was on fire, but an ankle injury slowed him later in the game. And when Nyeem Wartman- White went down with a season-end- ing knee injury early in the game, this unit never regained its form. GRADE D DEFENSIVE BACKS Temple only threw for 168 yards, which statistically, at least, isn't terrible. But when it mat- tered most, Penn State's defensive backs weren't able to make a stop against the pass. GRADE D SPECIAL TEAMS Joey Julius nailed a 35-yard field goal from a difficult angle to put the first points on the board for the 2015 season, and Danny Pasquar- iello's first two punts were exactly what Penn State had hoped for. The last few, however, were anything but. Koa Farmer showed some flash and power as a return man, too. Today, this looked to be the only unit that made any im- provement from last season. GRADE B COACHES Opening the game with an end around to Polk was a creative play call that caught Temple off guard, but that was about it for creativity on the day. After that, it seemed to be a mix of bland and repetitive play calls that led to PSU gaining just two first downs in the second and the third quarters com- bined. Then, eventually, it resulted in arguably the worst loss in school his- tory. GRADE F CROWD The battle between the two Pennsylvania teams turned into a com- plete sellout, and that deserves an A+. However, the raucousness in the park- ing lots – footballs thrown at vehicles, beers dumped on them, too, and PSU T-shirts being burned – deserves a fail- ing grade. Average them out. S E P t E m B E R 5 , 2 0 1 5 B l U E w h i t E o N l i N E . c o m 9 PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s? k c i t t t e k man@g .PSUtixm www.PSUtixman.com at ootba Get yo k c i t t o gm .PSUtixman.com all ur s t s e k

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