Review: Penn State 34, Northwestern 13

Penn State woke up after halftime at Northwestern, just in time to pull off the closest blowout wins you'll ever see. The game really swung in the Nittany Lions' after Wildcat QB Mike Kafka went down. But Penn State didn't play a poor game. Northwestern just played better, for a half.

In today's game review, we'll break down Penn State's unit by unit performance.

Offense

• Offensive Line: In the game preview, I said Northwestern DE Corey Wootton would play his best game of the season. The star lineman was extremely active against Penn State, and if he wasn't directly responsible for a big play, he usually had something to do with it. This isn't a review of Northwestern's defense, so I'll explain why Wootton was so important to how the Penn State offensive line played this week. It almost looked like the Nittany Lions weren't prepared to face a full-strength Wootton, as he had been struggling to regain his 2008 for after an injury in the bowl game. On a third-and-short play in the first half, Penn State ran the ball right at Wootton, only to be stopped short. Wootton didn't make the tackle, but he was so quick to beat the block, the play was doomed from the snap. It wasn't until after halftime that Penn State was able to account for Wootton on running plays.

In pass protection, not much went wrong for Penn State. Daryll Clark was given plenty of time to get rid of the ball. That's why the run blocking problems were so important to the early stages of the game. Penn State's coaches were reverting to their pre-2005 stubbornness, trying to run the ball down the opponent's throat, even though the offensive line couldn't get the blocking job done. The right side of the line remains a weakness, so I fully expect Ohio State, Indiana and Michigan State -- all teams with good front lines -- to attack that side in the coming weeks.

Stats: 6.0 yards per rush; Sack allowed

• Receivers: It's hard to criticize the receivers when this unit was able to cut through the Northwestern defense like a knife. However, the Graham Zug (3/28) issue needs to be addressed before I go on to the positives. Zug had two opportunities to make huge, if not gigantic plays before halftime: a dropped touchdown, and the dropped crossing route. Zug is normally a great set of hands out there, which leads me to believe this is nothing more than an off day on his part. But it was still very disappointing to see Penn State's top possession receiver fail so badly at what he does best.

Now for the good. The rest of this unit, including Zug outside of his two big drops, played a fantastic game for Penn State. Derek Moye (6/123, TD) came up with another gem, and might have pushed himself into the conversation for best Big Ten wide receiver this season (now that Minnesota's Eric Decker is out). Chaz Powell (4/36) ran for some tough yards after catch on the bubble screens, while even two freshmen -- Justin Brown and Curtis Drake -- made big plays to spark the offense. This unit ran all the right routes and was able to get open for Clark.

Stats: 18 receptions, 255 yards, TD

• Running Backs: I feel bad for Evan Royster (15/118, TD), having to run behind an offensive line that only shows up most of the time. That being said, Royster seemed to always be that one step away from breaking a big run, until he finally did in the fourth quarter. I say one step because the way Penn State was blocking, Royster was frequently hit either at the line or behind the line, only to emerge with a three or four-yard gain. Northwestern was able to disrupt the running game enough to hold Royster under 30 yards in the first half, directly leading to the Wildcats' halftime lead.

The backfield is in good shape, even without Stephfon Green. Royster has come on in recent weeks, currently second in the Big Ten in rush yards per game. His backup, Brandon Beachum (4/25, TD) has taken full advantage of his carries in Green's stead. Beachum is a tough, between the tackles runner that I think has shown great vision in short-yardage situations. We could end up seeing Beachum subbing in for Royster once Penn State gets inside the five, or on short conversion plays.

Stats: (RB/QB only) 26 attempts, 166 yards

• Quarterbacks: Daryll Clark's "best game of the season" now seems to happen on a weekly basis. Some will point to an injury-riddled Northwestern secondary as the main contributor to Clark's success this week, but I think it ran deeper this week. Clark not only showed he could hit all the throws (even if they were dropped), but that he could go a full game without making a single poor decision, either throwing or running. It was Clark's leadership on the field that made this game his best of the season. Penn State was down, but Clark never pressed, never threw a risky pass, or got happy feet when the pass rush was closing in. In every game prior to this one, Clark had thrown at least one pass that should've been an interception, or worse. But this week, I couldn't count one.

Kevin Newsome (no pass stats) came in late, and only ran for seven yards.

Stats: 22-31, 274 yards, TD

Defense

• Defensive Line: Penn State wasn't utilizing its superior talent on the defensive line through the first half of the game. By playing the defensive backs and linebackers off the receivers, it allowed Mike Kafka to get rid of the ball way before the pass rush could do anything. It wasn't until Penn State mixed up its coverages and disguised some of its blitz packages that the defensive front could get to the passer. I don't blame the line for losing contain on Kafka for some big scrambles. Penn State should have spied Kafka with a linebacker, like they did with Tate Forcier at Michigan.

Run defense was another story. The line was playing at a high level all day, not allowing Northwestern to gain any considerable traction on the ground. Most of the Wildcats' rush yards came via quarterback scrambling. Jared Odrick (5 tkl, TFL, Sack, Blkd) and Jack Crawford (2 tkl, TFL, Sack, PBU, FR) set an early tone, but guys like the always-unsung Ollie Ogbu (4 tkl, TFL, Sack, QBH) and Jerome Hayes (3 tkl, 1.5 TFL, Sack) made this a good day for the entire front wall.

Stats: 3.2 yards per rush allowed; 20 tackles, 7.5 TFL (-37), 6.0 sacks (-31), Forced Fumble, Fumble Recovered, 2 Pass Breakups, Block Kick, 4 QB Hurries

• Linebackers: The defensive game plan was too vanilla the first 30 minutes to allow the linebackers to do much. As I said in the DL section, it was obvious that Penn State made a big mistake not playing a similar scheme to the one used against Michigan. In fact, that scheme should have been expanded upon for a veteran spread-QB like Kafka. Penn State failed to attack the back end of the zone-read plays, like the one Kafka ran in for the touchdown, and allowed Kafka to break contain with no linebacker spying him.

Of course, it was great to see Sean Lee (12 tkl, 0.5 TFL, PBU) not only return to the starting lineup, but lead the team in tackles. Lee and Navorro Bowman (9 tkl, QBH) did the best they could with the defense they were given to work with. For the first time this season, Josh Hull (3 tkl) didn't do much of anything. I think the linebackers in particular benefited from Penn State's tightening of its defensive game towards the end of the first half.

Stats: 29 tackles, 0.5 TFL (0), 2 Sack (-10), Pass Breakup, QB Hurry

• Defensive Backfield: See a common theme developing here? Penn State played such a soft zone for the entire first half, Northwestern became the first team to enter the locker room with a halftime lead on the Nittany Lions. The Wildcats weren't doing anything special. They didn't have better players. Penn State just let Kafka and his receivers run wild underneath for 8-10 yards per completion, sometimes more earlier in the game.

But tackling isn't something one can blame on the coaches, and tackling was a big problem for this unit in the first half. Drew Astorino (6 tkl, FR) has been great when defending the short passes into the flats, but missed on what should have been a one or two-yard gain by Northwestern. The play went for a first down. But I shouldn't pick on Astorino alone, as the rest of the secondary whiffed on a good number of tackles.

It wasn't all bad, though. Astorino made up for a poor first half by staying quiet and not making any mistakes the rest of the game. D'Anton Lynn (8 tkl, TFL) is easily the best all-around corner on this team, and was probably the only one who didn't miss a big tackle. I just wonder how this unit would have handled Kafka for a full 60 minutes.

Stats: 28 Tkl, TFL (-2), Fumble Recovered, 2 Pass Breakup

Special Teams

• Kicking/Punting: Here's an area of special teams play that seems to have settled down. Collin Wagner (2-2, lng 32; 64.3 KO) has now hit eight of his last nine attempts, and is getting better at kickoffs each week. Jeremy Boone (42 YPP) is still taking an extra step sometimes on punts, but had a good day.

• Returns/Coverage: There's good and bad here. The good being Chaz Powell's 36-yard kickoff return to spark the second half offensive rally. That's two weeks in a row that Powell has taken a kickoff past midfield, both times a key points in the game. Northwestern decided to kick away from Penn State's return specialists, so even the two returns Powell was given were surprising. The punt return unit is still terrible. And when the flag for 12 men on the field is factored in, this part of the special teams just got worse, as if it seemed possible.

The coverage teams were decent, not allowing anything big to come back when it mattered. Northwestern had one decent return on a punt, but that was about it.

Overall

For all the mistakes by the players, the coaches shoulder equal blame for the tough time Penn State had at Northwestern. The offense was bland and inconsistent, while the defense was even more bland and more inconsistent. The coaches and players after the game admitted that they were unprepared for Northwestern to come out and play so well. That isn't a good sign for the next three weeks. Penn State plays three very dangerous opponents, each of whom should not be underestimated the way the Wildcats were this past weekend.

That being said, I was very pleased with Penn State this week, as the Nittany Lions were faced with adversity, but were able to fight through it, adapt, and win the game. Penn State remains the No. 1 scoring defense in college football, while the offense hasn't turned it over in three weeks. If the Nittany Lions can be a little more consistent on offense, and somehow maintain their ridiculously high level of play on defense, it should be off to a third BCS bowl game in five seasons.

• Official Stats, via GoPSUSports.com:

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