Penn State Football: Positional report card for win over Northwestern

Penn State football moved to 6-0 at the midpoint of the season with a 31-7 victory over Northwestern. How did each position grouping grade in the win?

Penn State visited Northwestern on a windy day in Chicago. The Lions started slow offensively, but their defense shutdown the Wildcats for most of the day. Penn State is sitting nicely at 6-0 with big games looming after a bye week.

Northwestern did a good job of bottling up Saquon Barkley, however he still was a factor in the game as always. The Nittany Lion defense kept them in the game until the offense woke up to get things rolling. Everyone talks about the Penn State offense, but this defense is solid and performed really well. If the Lions are going to be a factor in the playoff race, their defense will need to continue having performances like they have had in the first half of the season.

Let’s take a look at the performance of the positional groups from the Lions win over the Wildcats. Despite the victory there are some improvements to be made.

Penn State’s offensive line was really bad on the day against Northwestern. Coming into the season, the offensive line was supposed to be an area of improvement. However this game and last week against Indiana they have not performed well. It could be a factor that causes the Lions to lose a game down the road if the line’s play does not improve.

Quarterback Trace McSorley was sacked 5 times on the day and was rushed on several other throwing attempts. Running back Saquon Barkley was bottled up almost all game except for a breakout run late in the third quarter.

The offensive line has had a rotation of players at the right tackle spot, which is the particularly weak spot of the front five. It may not hurt them against the Indiana and Northwestern, but down the line it could. The Lions play Michigan and Ohio State after a bye week so they must improve in the trenches.