Grading the Bucks: Week 5 -- Penn State

Oh yeah...that's the stuff.  Not only did the Buckeyes rip the heart out of the Penn State faithful, we substantially increased our empire in the College Football Imperialism Map.  The map that started at the beginning of the 2017 season shows the immense influence of Buckeye Nation.  THE KING IN THE NORTH commands respect!

Offense: B
MVP: K.J. Hill, WR
Overall, this was a very blase performance by the Buckeye offense.  Haskins was pedestrian (and in no way deserved B1G Player of the Week) but effective enough.  The running game simply could not get churning.  In the first half, the line play was atrocious but there was a marked improvement as the game progressed (conditioning?).  Major credit to the coaches to dial up the screen game as the line wasn't protecting long enough to allow for deep downfield looks.  The WR were all pretty good in this game from Victor to Hill to Campbell.  Obviously, Penn State is one of the stronger defenses we'll face this year, but there were a few chinks that TCU exposed that PSU picked at.  Still room to improve.

Defense: B+
MVP: Chase Young, DE
Honestly, the defense played quite well.  Yes, McSorley was gashing the Bullets on the ground, but the were able to contain the explosive Nittany Lion offense to a reasonable performance in an insanely crazy environment.  The linebackers are still not good...but they are improving.  Harrison, Werner, and Boreland are consistently getting better every week.  I'm very concerned with the speed and awareness of the safeties.  The long TD pass was an embarrassment.  Pryor took an atrocious angle and was simply not fast enough to make up for his mistake.  The lack of speed in the deep secondary has been an issue in a few games this year.  Chase Young made a few plays (primarily the earlier 4th down bat down) that were simply amazing.  If Bosa gets back, the two top DEs in football are wearing scarlet and gray (been saying it all year--they're monsters).

Special Teams: A
MVP: Drue Chrisman, P
Other than Chase Young, Drue Chrisman was the best player in Scarlet and Gray Saturday.  He was excellent at flipping the field in all cases.  The punt coverage (and for that matter, the kick coverage) teams were also exceptional.  A major boon in a hostile road environment.

Coaching: A-
The preparation for the game was a little questionable.  The Buckeyes appeared to be lost at times early on and there was no synchronicity on offense (or defense).  The second half adjustments (primarily moving to the screen game) were fantastic.  Defensively, the coaches realized if we played a little softer (gave up a few yards to prevent the big play) we were in better shape.  The main reason we could afford to not be as aggressive is that the line is so good that they can get home without help...so long as those helpers assist in coverage.  The decisions to go on 4th down were pretty solid, but the playcall...eh.  Remember all you JT haters that we always knew the call on 4th and 1...but we'd always convert.  I wasn't thrilled with the call/execution on 4th down, but the decisions were solid.

Overall: A-
Went into Happy Valley and left with a win.  The vaunted 'white-out' now has a losing record.  It's an insane environment, but the talent of the Bucks is too much.  The biggest goal now is to avoid going all 'Iowa'.  I think we learned our lesson.  The Bucks will be heavy favorites for the remainder of the year, but let's take it one game at a time.