Grading the Bucks--Week 9: Penn State--That's better

Offense: A
The offense finally showed what they can do.  All cylinders were firing.  3 passing TDs from Braxton (and he looked sharp), 2 rushing TDs each from Braxton, Hyde, and Guiton--can't expect too much more.  Dontre Wilson finally got in the endzone and looked explosive on a sensational kick return.  What is there to say? My favorite stat from Sat is the 0 turnovers.  That makes a huge difference in the final score.  I saw poise and confidence in the entire offense.  They looked comfortable and ready for anything.  I loved what I saw from the receivers blocking down field.  Watch the long Braxton Miller TD run, Smith hold a block perfectly for 4-5 seconds.  Give him the TD for his contribution.

Defense: A-/B+
2 huge picks were an enormous boon (although the second was an egregious missed DPI).  Pitt Brown's int in the endzone really took the wind out of the Lion sails.  I was unhappy again that our d-line was getting manhandled on run plays and the line of scrimmage was habitually established 2-3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, but the linebackers were quick to fill in before too much damage was done.  Moving Roby off of the primary target seemed to work...he's lost a LOT of money this year.  Let's not go crazy on this defense, they're still not very good (PSU helped a ton with missed throws and dropped passes), but they rattled Hackenburg and kept the Lions in check.  If this were 2005, they'd earn a C+/B-, but this defense is graded on a different level.

Special Teams: A-
No FG attempts, no punt returns, solid net punting....but one kickoff out of bounds...really?  Nitpicking, but when you aren't on the field much, you need to be perfect. Wilson was darn near perfect on the kick return with the 'circle button PS3 move'.

Coaching: A
Moving Roby to cover the TE and assist against the run was extremely successful.  The first few plays showed the film study worked as OSU gouged the PSU defense on the same play 3 times.  Coaching was good, but execution was better.

Overall: A
In my opinion, this was the best overall game by the Bucks this year (FAMU doesn't count).  If we can keep imposing our will like this, good things will happen.

Marching Band: A++++
Humble brag, but the show turned out as well as I expected (can't say better because I have high expectations with past crowd responses).