Penn State football team’s report card vs. USC

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

STATE COLLEGE – Grading the Penn State football team on its 31-23 loss to USC Saturday night at Beaver Stadium:

Quarterbacks

B: Rocco Becht bounced back from two subpar outings and completed 21-of-32 passes for 289 yards and one TD.

Running backs

D: Carson Hansen and James Peoples combined for 48 yards on 21 carries, which isn’t good enough.

Receivers

B: Chase Sowell stood out again with two catches for long gains, and Andrew Rappleyea and Brett Eskildsen had nice games before Eskildsen’s late fumble.

Offensive linemen

D: They didn’t open enough running lanes for the backs as the ground game continued to struggle.

Defensive linemen

D: They accounted for no sacks and just one quarterback hurry in the passing game and got hurt inside and outside by runs.

Linebackers

C: Tony Rojas had 10 tackles and forced a fumble but didn’t get much help from Kooper Ebel and Cael Brezina.

Defensive backs

D: USC’s speedy and talented receivers burned the secondary for big chunks of yards, even with eight men in coverage at times.

Special teams

B: Ryan Barker went 3-for-3 on field goals, including a 48-yarder, and Nathan Tiyce punted fairly well, but the Lions got limited yards in the return game.

Coaches

D: The decision by Campbell and defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn to rush three players against Jayden Maiava at times was baffling. Also, not having any timeouts left in the final five minutes was not good.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos