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Penn State Football’s Post-Rutgers Report Card

One more to go, folks.

The Nittany Lions closed out their time in Beaver Stadium with a 27-6 win over Rutgers Saturday on Senior Day. Kaytron Allen had a two-touchdown day, Beau Pribula entered for an injured Drew Allar, and James Franklin learned what he meant to the locker room.

It wasn’t always pretty, so let’s take a look at how each position group fared against the Scarlet Knights.

Quarterbacks: B-

Allar was much of the same for the first half against Rutgers. Allar completed just six of his 12 passing attempts during the half for 79 yards through the air. Allar only attempted one pass in the second half after taking a big hit on a quarterback keeper that eventually took him out of the game. Before he left, Allar had also added 28 yards on three carries.

Pribula entered the game and immediately made an impact with his legs. The quarterback had been featured in a play earlier in the game where he ran up the middle for four yards, but on his first play as QB1, Pribula found the edge and gained 39 yards on the ground. Pribula only attempted one pass that went for nine yards during the second half as the offense was carried by the run game. Pribula finished the day leading the team in rushing yards with 71 yards and a touchdown.

Running Backs: A-

On a day when the running game was a priority, Allen led the running backs with 69 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns. Allen got the first two drives as running back after Nick Singleton started against Michigan and found success. Singleton, however, still didn’t look like himself until the second half.

Singleton began to find some space later in the game and eventually bounced to the outside for a gain of 20 yards on what was one of his longer runs of the year. Singleton never found the end zone during the win but amassed 61 yards on 11 carries.

Wide Receivers: C

The wide receivers were left in the dust when Pribula entered the game and didn’t record a single catch in the second half as Pribula’s only completion was to tight end Tyler Warren. Pribula said postgame that Franklin wasn’t afraid to let him throw, but the quarterback never got the looks he wanted and ended up taking off anyway.

Before Allar left, he only completed passes to Omari Evans for 25 yards and Liam Clifford for 15 yards. KeAndre Lambert-Smith hasn’t been targeted for a while, and with Trey Wallace once again absent, it was a very tough day for the Penn State pass-catchers.

Tight Ends: C+

The tight ends also struggled to help in the passing game. Allar connected with Tyler Warren once for 23 yards and Theo Johnson twice for 10 yards before exiting the game. Warren also caught Pribula’s pass behind the line of scrimmage and managed to gain nine yards. Despite not playing a large part in the passing game, the tight ends did a nice job of helping create space for the rushers during the second half.

Offensive Line: A

The offensive line had one of its best games of the season against Rutgers and didn’t allow a single sack during Saturday’s contest. The Nittany Lions racked up 234 yards on the ground — its third-most of the season. Along with providing space to run against one of the better run defenses in the Big Ten, the Penn State front line allowed just one quarterback hurry and one tackle for loss.

Front Seven: A

The defense was once again a bright spot for the Penn State squad, but it had far from its best game of the season. Rutgers’ ground struggled to find its footing and only managed 99 rushing yards. The defensive front got to Gavin Wimsatt three times and had seven tackles for loss during the win.

Kalen King led the front seven with 10 total tackles, while Abdul Carter registered five tackles with a half tackle for loss and a half sack.

Secondary: A-

Rutgers looked to the air on longer third-down conversion situations and picked a few up using the passing game. Wimsatt passed for 130 yards but also tossed an interception to Kevin Winston Jr. late in the game that sealed a Penn State victory.

Winston led the secondary with six total tackles, while Jaylen Reed was next with three total tackles.

Special Teams: A

Alex Felkins continued to be an asset to a special teams unit that has seen improvement in nearly every game this year. Felkins connected on two field goals during the win from 21 and 48 yards. Punter Riley Thompson was called on twice, where he kicked a long of 56 yards on his way to a 52-yard average.

Daequan Hardy didn’t attempt a punt return all day, while Singleton took one kickoff for 24 yards.

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About the Author

CJ Doebler

CJ is a junior double majoring in broadcast journalism and finance. He is from Northumberland, Pa, just east of State College. CJ is an avid Pittsburgh sports fan, but chooses to ignore the Pirates' existence. For the occasional random retweet and/or bad take, follow @CDoebler on Twitter. All complaints can be sent to [email protected].

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