2023 Penn State football film review: Northwestern

The second road trip of the season for Penn State was far from perfect despite the 41-13 victory over Northwestern.

At halftime, the game was even at 10 before the Nittany Lions surged to win and remain at No. 6 in the AP Top 25 poll.

Mike Bolger and Amanda Vogt detail the plays that stood out during this matchup before the team heads to the bye week.

Amanda

Plays we liked: 4th&6 NU 36 – Drew Allar connects with Dante Cephas for the first down

Despite another slow offensive start, the Penn State play calling was aggressive with this fourth down play. It was supposed to be just one yard for the first down, but after a false start was called on Theo Johnson, it became fourth and six.

Yet, the Nittany Lion offense remained on the field during its second possession with five minutes to go in the opening quarter. Five targets lined up out wide with nobody in the backfield, and Cephas ran a route up the left before cutting in the middle of the field to make a play.

The wide receiver had to dive for the catch but hauled it in for 15 yards; ultimately, this set up Penn State’s first points with an Alex Felkins field goal.

The decision to keep the offense out and risk a turnover on downs might appear like a gutsy call, but Penn State is 10-11 on fourth down conversions and making them at early stages in games can be defining momentum swings.

Plays we didn’t like: 3rd&16 NU 48 – Ben Bryant connects with Cam Porter for the lengthy first down

Earlier in the week, James Franklin said Bryant would be the toughest quarterback his defense would face, and in the early stages of the game, it struggled to prevent third-down conversions.

After a sack that lost eight yards for the Wildcats after Adisa Isaac pounced on Bryant, Northwestern was able to make up the yardage and get back into Penn State territory.

With no open options downfield, Porter completed the catch two yards past the line of scrimmage and broke through three tackles before reaching the first down marker.

This set up a QB keeper touchdown to give Northwestern a 10-3 lead with just under six minutes to go in the first half.

Plays like this one are where Penn State’s defense has been caught up with before – not making the initial tackle on first hits can be costly and increase the opponent’s confidence.

Unique play: 4th&8 NU 29 – Felkins 47-yard field goal

Felkins played a key role throughout the contest, connecting a 20-yard field goal at the end of the first quarter to put the Nittany Lions on the board.

Halfway through the third quarter, Penn State went three and out after Northwestern turned the ball over on downs, and the Columbia transfer came back onto the field and scored from 47 yards out.

The kick that pushed the blue and white’s lead to 10, was the longest of Felkins’ Nittany Lion career; additionally, he notched all five extra points in the victory.

Micheal

Plays we liked: 1st & 10 NU 13 – Trey Potts 13-yard elusive touchdown

It was a brutal and slow start for the Nittany Lions to start their road game against Northwestern on Saturday. With the special teams fumbling and the offense struggling, Penn State needed one play to get going down by one score.

That one big play came on a first down inside the red zone with less than a minute and thirty seconds to go. After Kaytron Allen came out of the game, Potts lined up next to Allar in the backfield.

With five offensive linemen and Tyler Warren on the line, Penn State hinted at a wide receiver screen to the far side of the field with Omari Evans lined up behind KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

However, when Allar snapped the ball, he handed it off to Potts, who ran it to the short side of the field. The offensive line shifted up that way as Hunter Nourzad and Sal Wormley pulled from their spots to help block for Potts.

As the two pulling guards dealt with the free linebackers pulling to tackle Potts, Tyler Warren came down to smush the defensive line and take them out of the game. These blocks led to a massive hole for Potts to run through, make a defender miss and celebrate in the end zone off of his first rushing touchdown of the season.

Plays we didn’t like: 3rd & 15 NU 17 – Ben Bryant runs for the first down

On a massive third down and long play down by a touchdown, Northwestern came out with a three-wide receiver set to the right, with a tight end on the opposite side and a running back in the backfield with Bryant.

Penn State’s defense showed a massive blitz with six defenders lined up on the line of scrimmage and corners in press coverage across the field. Off the snap, the Nittany Lions rushed five defenders with the corners on the short side of the field in a zone-courage while defenders on the far side played man.

Running back Cam Porter and tight end Thomas Gordon helped pick up the blitz very well to give Bryant time to step up and take off. Bryant ran to the far side of the field, where he noticed the man-to-man coverage to run free for 15 yards.

The blue and white’s defensive line went flying past the quarterback without containing him, which allowed him to take off and pick up a big first down.

Unique play: 4th & 4 NU 31 – Penn State stops a fake punt

Up 20-10 with five minutes left in the third quarter, Penn State forced Northwestern’s offense to punt.

The Wildcats special teams lined up with five men on the line, three players lined up five yards behind them with the punter ready to receive 15 yards away from the snap.

The Nittany Lions put eight players on the line against Northwestern’s five as the long snapper snapped the ball. Everyone expected that ball to go to the punter, but it was cut off by the middle blocker, Charlie Mangieri, of the three in the backfield behind the line.

A wide-open valley opened up to the left side of the line, where Mangieri charged upfield until he was upended by freshman cornerback Zion Tracy.

It was a gutsy call that did not pay off and put the game on ice after Penn State’s offense went up 27-10.

Micheal Bolger is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mpb6233@psu.edu.

Amanda Vogt is a sophomore majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email amandaevogt@gmail.com