Position Ratings: Kent State – Black Shoe Diaries

Well, that was a fun little historical upset, wasn't it? On a day when PSU broke a 98-year-old program record for total yards in a game and held the opposition to under 100 yards, that would get us an A. We'll find out if that's the case below…

Quarterback: A

Drew Allar had a solid outing, throwing for over 300 yards and scoring a hat trick of touchdowns on 17 of 21 passing, and also scored a touchdown on a blatant fake handoff with a read option to Nicholas Singleton. Beau Pribula threw a terrible interception that ruined what was likely PSU's first scoring drive, but later made up for it with a touchdown pass to Khalil Dinkins in the second half.

Running back: A

Singleton and Kaytron Allen both gained consistent yards and helped keep PSU's offense on schedule and get the chains moving. Singleton also caught a touchdown pass from… Tyler Warren?? Cam Wallace and Quinton Martin also got into action. Wallace made it to the end zone but unfortunately suffered what appeared to be a serious leg injury as he was unable to put weight on his left ankle and had to be carried off the field by his teammates. Let's hope Cam's prognosis is better than it seemed.

Wide Receiver: A

Well, that's more like it! After failing to make a single catch against West Virginia and Bowling Green, Liam Clifford finally made his first catch of the season, including a touchdown. Julian Fleming also had his longest catch as a Nittany Lion with a 39-yard gain, and we had our weekly deep ball catch by Omari Evans that led to a 59-yard touchdown strike by Allar.

Tight End: A+

Tyler Warren is a human Swiss Army knife. Whether catching a pass, running the ball or even throwing, he did it all yesterday against the Golden Flashes. Khalil Dinkins, who is finally healthy again, also scored his first touchdown of the season and should be an additional weapon in the attack in the future.

Offensive Line: A

During the broadcast of this game on the Big Ten Network, a graphic was shown on the screen showing the average weight of the PSU and Kent State offensive lines. PSU's was almost 60 pounds heavier. That's quite a difference, and it showed that PSU handled Kent State's slimmer offensive line quite well.

Defense line: A-

See, when your defense is holding the opposing team to just 67 yards of offense and the longest play from the faceoff line is 13 yards, it's almost impossible not to give up A's across the bench. Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton each recorded a sack and took down Kent State's starting quarterback on the third play of the game. The D-line's nervousness needs to be improved, though, as once again we saw PSU get called for offsides a couple of times. It didn't matter today, but it could cost them a win in a really important game, so I'm knocking half a grade off.

Linebackers: A

Take a bow, Anthony Speca! The true freshman led the way with five tackles and Ta'Mere Robinson had three tackles (including one for a loss) while PSU's first seven held Kent State to 49 rushing yards.

Secondary: A

With KJ Winston out for at least a while, all eyes turned to freshman Dejuan Lane, who did not disappoint in his first game as a starter, doing solid work in coverage and making two tackles. Jaylen Reed was also excellent in run support, contributing a tackle that resulted in a loss of yardage.

Special teams: B-

Unfortunately, we don't get an A as this was the only unit that didn't play its best yesterday. Gabe Nwosu sent the opening kickoff out of bounds, giving Kent State a great starting position. Kaden Saunders returned a punt 23 yards, but also had ball security issues, dropping the ball at the end of said 23-yard return, which fortunately went out of bounds. Riley Thompson had a forgettable day punting, averaging just 35.5 yards on his two punts with a longest of 38. On the plus side, Sander Sahaydak converted all eight of his extra points.

BONUS CATEGORY

Collapse of the fan base in the first half: A+

Until the final five and a half minutes of the first half, when PSU was only ahead 7-0, the collective collapse of the fan bases on various message boards and perhaps even in our own comment sections of the open game threads was a sight to behold. Whether it was because Andy Kotelnicki wasn't worth a blank check, the offense seemed lifeless, or the fact that James Franklin-coached teams always stooped to their opponents' level and were never able to look dominant against inferior teams, there was no shortage of people to blame. Thankfully, all of that dissipated in a flurry of touchdowns that put the Lions ahead 28-0 at halftime, a pace they maintained for the rest of the game to cut into the 49-point lead.