Did Indiana expose red flags for the Penn State defense?

Instead of extracting its pound of flesh from one of the bottom-dwellers of the Big Ten this season, Penn State football was taken to the wire by the two-win Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday. While the offense continued its trend of rather pedestrian performances, one of the surprising stories of the afternoon was the Nittany Lions defense, with several shocking gaffes from what was one of the nation’s elite units coming into the day. Despite giving up several long touchdown plays, James Franklin didn’t appear very concerned with the unit following the game. Was Saturday’s outing a perfect storm of “wrong place, wrong time” scenarios, or was it a symptom of larger issues for the Penn State defense?

Penn State defense offers an uncharacteristic performance against Indiana

One week removed from single-handily keeping Penn State football in the game against No. 3 Ohio State on the road, the Nittany Lions defense looked uncharacteristically sloppy in Saturday’s 33-24 win over Indiana.

A matchup that featured the No. 2 passing defense against the No. 100 passing offense nationally, Saturday should’ve been another showcase for what has become known as the “no-fly zone” in State College. However, the Hoosiers were cleared for takeoff in a surprisingly poor performance from the Penn State defense in the passing game.

All three of Indiana’s touchdowns game through the air against Manny Diaz’s unit. The Nittany Lions allowed 269 yards on an average of 20.7 yards per completion. The Hoosiers gained 200 yards on four passing plays, specifically blown coverage touchdowns of 90 and 69 yards in the first half. As a result, Penn State football was gashed for 168 yards after the catch.

But it wasn’t all bad for the Nittany Lions defense. The unit forced multiple turnovers for yet another game, including a Jaylen Reed interception that set up the Penn State offense for a field goal at the end of the first half.

The Nittany Lions also locked down late, forcing an Indiana field goal after a sudden change turnover deep in its own territory. The defense put the game on ice with a strip-sack fumble that rolled 25 yards through the back of the end zone for a safety after a Drew Allar touchdown pass gave Penn State the lead with 1:46 remaining.

James Franklin grades his defense

So, was Saturday just an uncharacteristic performance for a defense ranked among the nation’s best? According to Penn State football coach James Franklin, Indiana took advantage of some atypical errors on the defensive front.

“We just had some blown coverages that we haven’t had,” Franklin said when asked to evaluate the defense after the game. “And sometimes, I’m going to be honest with you, you make a mistake, and the offense doesn’t find you when you make a mistake. And we made some mistakes. This game specifically, the one [broken coverage touchdown] where it’s either a corner fire or a linebacker blitz, depending on the formation in the split, and both of them ended up coming. We were obviously in trouble.”

“So, we just made some mistakes this week that are uncharacteristic for us,” Franklin continued. “Got to give Indiana credit. They did a good job. We went into that game thinking that quarterback was a good player. Thought he played well today. Thought he played really well today. But that’s essentially what happened. We blew some coverages and got caught when we blew them.”

Does Saturday raise any red flags for the Nittany Lions defense?

Overall, I’m willing to accept that some of Indiana’s long gains were simply broken plays from a defense that has been gaffe-adverse for the better part of the last calendar year. The Penn State defense was its typical self minus those two mistakes: 190 total yards, four tackles for loss, three sacks, and two turnovers. And all that was without star EDGE Chop Robinson, who missed Saturday’s contest after leaving the Ohio State game with an injury.

But looking at the bigger picture, it’s hard not to be at least a little concerned about where this Penn State football team is at mentally following last week’s 20-12 loss to Ohio State.

The 2022 version of the Nittany Lions was perhaps the most mentally sound team of the James Franklin era, seemingly unphased by the bumps incurred on the way to a Rose Bowl victory. As the calendar flips to November, this Penn State team doesn’t appear to be at that level.

The offense continues to look like it’s in its own way, but nothing through eight games indicates that will change. If Penn State football wants to be anything more than a slightly above-average team to close out the year, then it’ll need to rely on the defense to lead the way.

We’ll see what next week’s contest against Maryland entails. Otherwise, things could get ugly when Michigan comes to town on November 11.

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