Penn State Football: Positional report card for win over Michigan

Penn State football surprisingly dominated Michigan Saturday night at Beaver Stadium. How did each position grade out in the victory?

Penn State hosted Michigan Saturday night in a much-anticipated match-up. Before a Beaver Stadium record crowd, the Lions rolled the highly touted Wolverine defense, racking up over 500 yards of total offense and 42 points.

All the weapons on Penn State’s offense clicked against Michigan. The Lions defense was good in its own right, sacking quarterback John O’Korn seven times and only allowing Michigan 269 total yards of offense. As talented as Penn State is on offense, their defense is rounding into championship form.

Let’s grade out each positional group for the Nittany Lions from their big win. A lot to be happy about on both sides of the ball.

A night and day difference for the offensive line compared to their performance against Northwestern two weeks ago. They run blocked well and kept quarterback Trace McSorley relatively clean, only allowing two sacks.

Must Read: Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from victory over Michigan

Penn State rushed for 224 yards on 35 attempts. McSorley had enough time to air out the football for 282 yards. There were a few miscues and I’m getting nitpicky with the minus grade for the two sacks, but overall this unit handled a very aggressive Michigan defensive front seven. The Wolverines came into this game allowing under 300 yards per game total to opposing offenses. The Lions had just over 300 yards of offense at halftime. They offensive line will need a similar performance next week against Ohio State.