Penn State came into the game with the #1 ranked defense in the entire country. They were giving up only 193 YPG, which was tops in the country by 40 yards (Michigan was 2nd place at 233 YPG).
We had 365 yards without our 2nd and 3rd best players on offense. This was WITH an uneven performance by Kyle McCord.
Doomers will ask who they've played, but two facts are undeniable:
1) Manny Diaz is one of the best DCs in the entire country.
2) This is a Penn State defense littered with future next level players - practically every single starter will be playing NFL football.
- EDGE Chop Robinson (went down early) and CB Kalen King will be first round picks.
- EDGE Adisa Isaac, LB Curtis Jacobs, and EDGE Dani Dennis Sutton (replaced Robinson) are projected as Day 2 picks.
- LB Abdul Carter, CB Daequan Hardy, CB Johnny Dixon, and S Keaton Ellis are all projected as NFL draft picks in 2024.
Emeka Egbuka is the 2nd best WR in the entire Big Ten - maybe the entire country. You aren’t replacing that production easily. And with some of the holes our O Line was starting open up in the run game, it’s easy to imagine a more explosive TreVeyon Henderson hitting a home run like he did against Notre Dame.
McCord missed plenty of throws in the 1st half, but he made some great throws in the 2nd and he’s only going to keep improving.
We HAVE to get better at finishing drives, but red zone efficiency will improve with more reps and actually having our full complement of weapons. Egbuka being out slices our red zone playbook in half.
We’re a lot closer than people think to breaking through - the run game has shown serious signs of life the past two weeks.
Just need our guys back and healthy.
