Instant Analysis: Penn State Escapes Bowling Green UPSET bid

head State 34 Bowling Green 27 in game head State fans I think thought would go a lot differently than it did I'm Greg pickle that's Sean Fitz and Nate Bower from blue white Illustrated this video was so nice we're doing it twice Sean uh so running back to thoughts that uh that you had after this game where do you come out of it looking at Penn State as they going to to by week well it's a big mood difference from last week at at Morgantown you Penn State had a ton of momentum maybe a little too much momentum hearing about how great they were you know over the last week or so all of a sudden Bowling Green comes out punches them in a I mean that's you know you expected Bowling Green to be the better of the two MA teams but still you didn't expect Bowling Green to come right down the field score right away and then do it a couple times in the first half Penn State's defense absolutely gashed um there was no real one thing that you could pin down it was through the air it was it was on the ground the quarterback had was was surgical at times um and that's uh that's an issue that Penn State's going to have to think about going into the the bye so uh the offense seemed to be you know to counter that well in the first half and the second half kind of slowed down a little bit couple of self-inflicted penalties and and throwaways the turnover from Drew Aller In The End Zone uh didn't help things but uh yeah there was it was a it was a bit different feel um from half to half with this one yeah no doubt Nate Penn State came out of the West Virginia game obviously on the high of highs and it's not on the lows of lows because as James Franklin said it came into this game and got a victory even though it wasn't pretty so just your initial thoughts on where Penn State is after this win and the way it played out you guys are going to be stunned to learn this but I'm kind of in the Middle where I don't think it's quite the Panic inducing I get it a Mac team Penn State's aspirations are to be exceptionally good this year granted however uh I I thought and maybe you guys will disagree with me that bowling Green's quarterback was awesome in the first half I thought he was really good uh I thought his receivers made catches for him that Penn State's receivers didn't necessarily make for Drew Aller uh granted a lot of that stuff happened in the first half and that's where they scored all their points or most of their points uh you know the defense from again uh was in position to make some plays didn't totally fine to to have critiques there will be tons of things that they try to take away from this game uh and get better at all of those are absolutely warranted but uh I saw good some good news in the sense of a Drew Aller performance that I thought again showed like demonstrable strides from the player that he was last year into the player that he is this year in the sense of making plays right last year the whole the whole if I could encapsulate everything last year for Drew Aller it was not making mistakes this year it has transformed from not making mistakes to okay maybe making a couple mistakes but also making plays uh unlocking some things for that offense that weren't available to them last year so we'll see what happens right like they're they're either going to get better or they're not but uh I I certainly think that it's okay to to look at Bowling Green and say yeah they played pretty well in the first half and deserve to be in that game because of it Sean you I know it's one thing that stood out to you is how the offense for Penn State came out firing and then maybe wasn't on all cylinders in the second half and it was vice versa for the defense what do you make of that and the halftime changes both sides of the ball made in this game yeah you're going to have to look at the tape for that but I I I it's tough to explain because there were instances where Drew hits Omari Evans for a deep ball offensive pass interference you get down in the Red Zone he throws a really advised pass he's got the 23 yard loss in the sacks so these things kind of just got in their own way now all credit to Bowling Green they were excellent I think Bowling Green gave him a much better test than than West Virginia did last week um but yeah there was there's a lot of things that you you have to sort of uh grind out the edges on and I think the funny thing to me not not so much funny and I know people watching this video are not laughing at all so Penn State we talked all the summer about how Andy C Nikki is going to have to help out Drew to get the ball to his people well Drew seems like he in a pretty good spot today and his people Harrison Wallace No or Trey Wallace No catches uh Julian fman had one catch I believe Mari Evans a big drop KRON Allen the big drop on one of the better throws that you'll see a quarterback making Against the Grain so a lot of things like kind of the flipping the script on what we we what we expected from this offense you still still saw some creativity you saw Tyler Warren involved big time which is such a huge part of this offense because that is you know that that's going to take itself and and and meld into the running game that's that short stuff in the in the Flat's going to be their bread butter and they're going to keep coming back to Tyler Warren a lot of yards after catch with him as well I thought he was spectacular today um and then you get Nick Singleton the ball you can finally exhale when Nick Singleton runs into the end zone there in the uh the North End Zone in the fourth quarter but you'd rather not do that against the Mac team yeah no doubt about it Nate you want to talk about Nick now yeah no I do I I do think that I thought he was gonna steal your Dunder there for a second don't you dare I I think that there's a little bit of a uh I I understand that there's multiple ways to look at this but if if there's a silver lining it's okay you when a bunch of players did not have their best Penn State still had an Arsenal that could compete and and win right and so yeah Trey Wallace was a non-factor right uh Omari Evans didn't have he didn't make the spectacular catch that he did uh the week prior uh and and honestly I mean just the receivers in general it's it's the thing that we thought it was like that that's still thing but they still have a Nick Singleton who can run 41 yards for a touchdown and would have gone 80 if it had been an 80 yard carry right uh you you still have Tyler Warren doing the things that he can do there are there are ways for this team there is enough diversity of depth that they have in terms of offensive playmakers that you don't have to have it all going at the same time to still have options that's going to change right there there there going to be opponents that Penn State plays this season season that they're not going to be able to get away with that but just just to have it I think it builds a it builds a library of things that defensive coordinators have to prepare for and have to be concerned about and that only helps Penn State that only helps Penn State going through the rest of the season of which long- winded way to get to it Nick Singleton is a big one right we knew we knew all offseason that he was going to be a focal point of this offense even coming after last year where right people left feeling a little bit um disenchanted right disillusioned by what he was able to do last season big words not not me no not me right yeah no I wrote uh so he was he he is the player that he was as a freshman he's being given opportunities to succeed that I didn't think he was necessarily last season and he's he's proving that he's putting that on film uh he's doing things for this Penn State offense that it desperately needs and it's changing the complexion what they can do in the process three notes on the bumps and bruises front khil dinkin back in Action today Andrew Raper not in action out on the pregame availability report KJ Winston played the almost just the first quarter and none of the last three no updates from James Franklin on those guys so we'll have to wait and see but Sean final thoughts as we get ready to look ahead to the bye yeah you can throw Tony Roos in there he was banged up for a good portion of the game did come back in made a spectacular play on an interception I I think the confidence you look at uh with the offense is you look at last week and what West West Virginia gave you that was what Trey Wallace took he had he had the big game today what you look at in the scheme of of Bowling Greens defense Tyler Warren was going to be open and they found that and they went to it now it's just building up the the supplementary pieces there uh besides the running game they had two two uh running backs over 100 yards today um they they got they got to work on some more of those outside weapons uh defensively depth is uh continuing to be an issue you talk about how important those three safeties are to Penn State they played almost the entire game last week against West Virginia Winston didn't look comfortable from the start um I'm not sure he he went out for a little bit in the first quarter came back in he got beat by the tight end by the way that's an NFL player right there um but he got beat by the tight end and he came back out and didn't play the rest of the game so get him healthy because he is so important to them he gives them the ability to move Jaylen Reed around which I mean it's moving pieces in the back in the back Zaki Wheatley had the pick there at the end he's he's an important guy as well uh linebacker depth we seing a lot of D Duca um and and he was hurt in the third quarter a punt third or fourth quarter too yeah and uh that's uh Penn State's not at its best when they have three linebackers on the field they got to get those three safeties healthy and they got to get them back on the field Nate final thoughts and Dom DeLuca playing in positions that he are not natural to him right like that's a that's a big part of it I I thought it was funny uh just a brief aside but talking about the stressors that Penn State is under at that at the within the linebacker group and I was talking to Kobe king after the game uh his sentiment was not oh it's not that we're stressed it's guys are stepping up guys are playing out of position Dom Duca among them and Kobe offering him himself right saying hey I if if I'm needed at will that's something that he has picked up and obviously they're all going to do what the coaches ask of them but uh I do think it's a significant right uh difference of perception right because we're looking at this oh man they're they might be in a bind just just with healthy bodies they need bodies uh at that linebacker uh within that linebacker group so it's going to be interesting uh to see how they proceed from here Sean I know you're going to say it but standers say heak we can't move any further without mentioning him bounces back from the field goal miss at West Virginia makes two today looked good on both of those kicks and the extra points too yeah I mean you got to get that kick confident if he's going to be your guy of course they they have a couple of kickers that they think are close but sahak missed the big one last week against West Virginia step back they did not put him on the right hash this time which I think is a big deal uh look good making his two field goals I it's baby steps when you're talking about a a guy that's trying to regain his confidence or get his get his confidence together um you know special teams got some stuff to work on Kaden Saunders had the fumble Gabe noo kicked the ball out of bounds when you absolutely can't do that when you're trying to got lucky it went out of bounds there was a lot more Bowling Green guys there than Penn State guys that's sure yeah absolutely so I mean you you've got uh you've got some things to work on I guess in all three facets going in the buy and I guess that's where you focus next week yeah Penn State off next week but we won't be at blue white illustrate. comom check in for the latest info on the team recruiting and much more we will talk to you in two weeks from Beaver Stadium