Penn State football team’s report card vs. Northwestern

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EVANSTON, Ill. – Grading the Penn State football team on its 34-13 loss to Northwestern Friday night at Ryan Field:

Quarterbacks

F: Rocco Becht misfired on several passes to open receivers and threw two interceptions in his second straight poor performance.

Running backs

D: James Peoples, Carson Hansen and Quinton Martin combined for 42 rushing yards on 19 carries, which won’t get it done in the Big Ten.

Receivers

C: Chase Sowell and Brett Eskildsen combined for 11 catches for 113 yards. As a group, they got open many times but Becht missed them.

Offensive linemen

D: They didn’t open many holes for the running backs and their pass protection was spotty, resulting in Penn State gaining less than 300 total yards again.

Defensive linemen

D: The tackles often occupied two blockers, but the ends had limited pressure and were fooled by Northwestern’s misdirection and invisible for most of the night.

Linebackers

D: Tony Rojas had 12 tackles, including 3.5 in the backfield, but Kooper Ebel missed three tackles that resulted in long runs.

Defensive backs

C: They allowed one long pass on a run fake and didn’t get much action because Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles didn’t have to throw much.

Special teams

C: Nathan Tiyce had a decent game punting, but Ryan Barker missed a field goal and the return game had limited production.

Coaches

F: The blowout loss was an utter failure by Matt Campbell and the coaching staff. The offense and defense were dominated, especially at the line of scrimmage.

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