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number and had further established himself as the unit's voice and central example, but even he will admit that there is room for growth for the line- backers when looking back at the first half of the season. It wasn't until the Iowa game that Cabinda said he finally found his groove. Meanwhile, the coaches are looking for more disruptive plays from the unit as a whole. No team in college football had a better takeaway margin than Penn State's plus-12 through the season's first six weeks, but not one of those turnovers was forced by a linebacker......GRADE B+ DEFENSIVE BACK After ranking toward the bottom of the league a year ago in pass defense, it became an off-season priority for Penn State to get more pro- duction from its secondary. Then John Reid went down with a serious knee in- jury during spring camp, and even more responsibility fell upon the shoulders of fourth-year players Christian Camp- bell, Grant Haley and Amani Oruwariye. They have proven to be ready for the load, as all three are playing themselves into eventual NFL contracts. The three cornerbacks combined for six intercep- tions through six games, while fresh- man Tariq Castro-Fields had one, too. At safety, Marcus Allen and Troy Apke each had a pick to bring the team total to nine heading into the Michigan game. A year ago, the secondary only snagged six.......................................GRADE A SPECIAL TEAMS Field position was as important to Penn State's first-half success as turnover margin. Blake Gillikin, along with his punt-coverage unit, was flipping the field with regular- ity, averaging over 44.1 yards per punt and landing 16 of his first 26 inside the opponent's 20-yard line. The kickoff unit has been strong as well, with Tyler Davis driving the ball deep enough for a touchback nearly two-thirds of the time. He and the field goal unit, how- ever, have taken a step back. Entering the season as the most accurate kicker in school history, Davis missed seven of his first 13 attempts, giving him the worst percentage in the conference. Two of those misses were blocked, and others were the result of snap/hold problems, but there's no question Davis is not in the same rhythm he found himself in during his first two seasons. That's what's holding this unit back from an A..............................GRADE B M I D S E A S O N G R A D E S with D. Next three games will test this grade, though. SPECIAL TEAMS B I think our punter is a demigod; huge punts have led to great swings in field position, helping out the D. The return game has been good (very good if you compare it to re- cent PSU teams), but the kickoffs and FG misses of late bring the overall grade down. Lots of room for improve- ment, or else it could cost us a game very soon. NittanyLager OFFENSE B- PSU is putting up points, but the scheme in the running game is lacking, and they are leaving many points on the field, particularly in the red zone. DEFENSE A The only thing keeping this from an A+ for me is the LB play at times –getting lost in traffic. Wild Dogs and DBs as advertised for the most part. Marcus Allen may be as good a safety as PSU has had in a long time, Adrian Amos included. SPECIAL TEAMS B If I could parse, it would be kicking game C-, punt/kick return and coverage A-. Hopefully Tyler Davis isn't taking the week off; PSU needs to be better in the field goal department. COACHING B They're 6-0 and No. 3 in the country behind Nos. 1 and 2 that are a consensus 1 and 2, best scoring D in the country [through six games]. So why the B? Opportunities missed and stubbornness in scheme. The Iowa game is the only game in which I saw a clear game plan that was executed to the staff's goals. Played out in stats, but lack of willingness to adapt in the red zone cost points. Without improvement here, the showdown in Columbus – which I believe will define the remain- der of the season – is unlikely to come out in PSU's favor. PSUGRAD9095 OFFENSE B "Good enough to win games," per Franklin, but the running game still needs to improve going for- ward, which it should. The fact that they've not had to come from behind in the second half except for Iowa means they haven't had to play wide open yet. DEFENSE A Maybe one of the biggest surprises of the season. They are play- ing faster and nastier than ever. Not physically dominant at the line of scrimmage, but swarming and quick to the ball. The secondary is playing lights-out. SPECIAL TEAMS B Field goal kicking needs to improve before it costs us a game on the road. Everything else is firing on all cylinders. OVERALL B+ We're playing balanced, clean football overall, and I can't argue with 6-0. The great thing going for- ward is that the offense still has two more gears in it, and the defense is get- ting better each week. Thompkins should have two punt-return TDs, and he may still have one or two left in him. Barkley might have another kick return in him, but he's only getting a couple of opportunities per game. Not a bad problem to have. Brazillm10

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