2023 Penn State football game grades: Indiana

No. 10 Penn State came home this week for its Military Appreciation Game following a 20-12 loss in Columbus a week ago.

In front of a late-arriving, early departing crowd, the Nittany Lions played wire-to-wire against Indiana to eke out a 33-24 victory over a team whose record dropped to a mere 2-6 with the loss.

Here’s how each unit fared in the gritty, bounce-back victory.

Offense: C-

In the end, the blue and white won this game because of the ball that its signal-caller unleashed with 1:33 left in the fourth quarter, but until that point, it was another bleak performance from the leader on offense.

Drew Allar went 20-of-31 passing with three touchdown passes and an interception, which came as the Ohio native chucked the ball into the middle of the field as he was getting hit in the backfield.

The former five-star’s 64.5 completion percentage was aided by many dump-offs with his 10.5 yards per completion inflated by some chunk plays.

Whether it was Allar’s reads or the play calling, there was yet again a lack of getting weapons involved, which can, in part, be due to Harrison Wallace III suffering an injury.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith led the way with six receptions for 96 yards and the 57-yard touchdown to take the late lead, while the only other receiver to catch a ball was Dante Cephas, who had two receptions for 15 yards.

There were some aces up Allar’s sleeves as he connected with the tight ends, Tyler Warren, Theo Johnson and Khalil Dinkins, a combined five times for 55 yards and two of his touchdowns.

Against one of the worst run defenses in college football, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen were held without big runs and scoring plays. Allen rushed 18 times for 81 yards while Singleton rushed 15 times for 50 yards as the two combined for under 4.0 yards per carry.

Defense: C-

One week after holding the No. 3 team in the nation to 20 points, Manny Diaz’s unit allowed 24 in the victory over the Hoosiers.

21 of those 24 points came on explosive plays as Brendan Sorsby, who went 13-of-19 passing for 269 yards, connected with Carter Dequece for a 90-yard score in the first quarter, Donaven McCulley for a 69-yard touchdown in the second, and Omar Cooper Jr. for a 26-yard game-tying touchdown in the fourth.

Jaylen Reed did get the best of Sorsby for an interception late in the first half that set up a 50-yard field goal as time expired after the offense stalled out due to an intentional grounding penalty on Allar.

Reed’s interception was the only takeaway of the day, but one of two forced fumbles led to a safety. Dani Dennis-Sutton was responsible for that safety as he sacked Sorsby, knocked the ball loose, and it trickled out of the endzone.

Dennis-Sutton was one of just three Nittany Lions, and the only defensive lineman, to record a sack on Saturday. Daequen Hardy and Johnny Dixon came on blitzes to also take down Sorsby, but the absence of Chop Robinson was seen with only four tackles for loss on the day.

Special Teams: B-

Outside of Alex Felkins’s reliability, there wasn’t much to Penn State’s special team’s units through its first five games. In game number six, which was against UMass, the aforementioned Hardy earned this unit an “A++” with two punt return touchdowns, and on the final Saturday of October, it looked like he changed the game again.

After Diaz’s defense caused a three-and-out, James Evans booted the ball away to Hardy, who caught it at the 14-yard line and returned it 86 yards into the south endzone. As he celebrated in front of the student section at Beaver Stadium, the play was called back for a block in the back on Kolin Dinkins.

That penalty caused a 14-point swing as the offense stalled out which led to one of Riley Thompson’s six punts on the day, and on the first play after the punt, which was fair caught, Indiana scored its 69-yard touchdown.

Singleton returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards out to midfield, marking his longest return of the season. His explosiveness caused the Hoosiers to pooch kick to Warren for the rest of the game, which resulted in one 11-yard return for the tight end.

Felkins, who came into the day 8-for-11 on field goal attempts, missed a 51-yard attempt in the second quarter. Felkins recovered by making a 50-yarder as time expired later in that same quarter.

Coaching: D

One week after losing to Ohio State by eight points, Penn State looked like a team that would’ve lost to Ohio State by way more.

If they win out and get some help along the way, the Nittany Lions could still be a playoff team, but their response after a loss to a top-5 team was anything but how playoff teams respond to adversity.

Although rain trickled down throughout the day, there was a possibility of some snow in the way of the snowball effect where one loss led to another. In 2021, Penn State experienced this effect as it lost to Illinois in a nine-overtime thriller after it lost a top-10 ranked matchup to Iowa in the week prior.

Franklin and company didn’t have their team ready to go out of the gate, which has been a season-long problem on the offensive end.

Another season-long problem, which was the focus of several questions asked to Franklin throughout the week, is the usage of wide receivers. Nothing changed as once again, it was a one-man show from the receiver room for the Nittany Lions as the offense stayed predictable.

Good teams notice their problems, great teams actively look to fix them, and the coaching staff didn’t alter much this week.

Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu or justinciavolella@gmail.com.