Penn State Football: Report card for win over Indiana in Week 8

Penn State football bounced back this week with a win over Indiana. The Lions performance had its ups and downs. How did each positional group grade out?

After two consecutive home losses, Penn State looked to get back in the win column on the road. They would have to do it on a wind swept day in Bloomington against Indiana.

In what turned out to be a game closer than expected, Penn State beat Indiana, 33-28. The Hoosiers gave the Nittany Lions everything they had and even led on two occasions during the contest. But it was not enough as the Lions took the lead late in the third quarter and would never surrender it.

It was a rather uninspiring performance from Penn State. But a win is a win. They would feel a lot worse right now at 4-3 and it is better to correct the mistakes sitting at 5-2.

There were some outstanding individual efforts in the game, some weird coaching decisions and some performances that could have been better. Let us grade out each positional group and the coaching staff in the Lions victory.

Quarterback: B

Trace McSorley had an average day passing the ball, but had a better day on the ground. Without McSorley, the Lions would probably not have won the game though.

McSorley completed only 52 percent of his passes for 220 yards. His streak of 34 consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass is now broken and he threw an interception on the day.

There seemed to be a few things contributing to McSorley’s uneven passing numbers. It was a very windy day so McSorley seemed to be over compensating for rifling the ball to his receivers. But again the receivers did him no favors by dropping several catchable balls.

On the ground, McSorley was fantastic. He carried the ball 19 times for 107 yards and rushed for two touchdowns. When he is one on one with an opposing linebacker, he continues to show why he will win that match up every time.

Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens even got in for a few plays, mostly as a decoy. But he did get one chance to throw the ball and he made it count for a 23 yard touchdown pass.