Penn State Football: 3 takeaways from roller-coaster win over Illinois

1. How good is Penn State?

Through four games, we are starting to get a feel of the type of team Penn State is. Are they good enough to win the Big Ten? Right now, the answer is no.

Penn State survived an opening week scare against Appalachian State. Since then they have outscored their opponents 177-40. There are not too many questions about the Lions offense except for if they can move the ball like this against the better defenses in the Big Ten.

The questions mostly lie on the defensive side of the ball. They are young, but they have trouble stopping the run this season. The secondary has been caught out of position several times. There have been some dumb mental errors and penalties through four games.

All of these problems are correctable. But the competition is about to kick up a notch with back to back games against Ohio State and Michigan State. Luckily for the Lions they do have an off week between them.

Ohio State looks to be the top of the conference right now and then there is everyone else with flaws. Penn State has a big opportunity next week against the Buckeyes, but they must clean up the issues on defense. If they don’t, it will be a long night in Happy Valley with the Buckeyes running all over them.