Eastern Michigan vs. Penn St. Week 4: 5 Weaknesses Nittany Lions Should Work on

The Penn State Nittany Lions had a pathetic showing against the Temple Owls on a national stage. 

They showed the entire nation weaknesses, five in particular, that they need serious improvement on. 

These five areas need to be addressed ASAP. 

Joe Paterno may not be able to see these issues from the booth, but everyone else can. 

Here are the five weaknesses the Nittany Lions should work on if they want to beat Eastern Michigan or any other school. 

Kick Return Defense

Penn State's kick return defense against Temple was just sad.

Matt Brown had three returns for 85 yards.

That's 28.3 average against Temple—Temple, the team PSU beat 28 straight times (now 29) before last Saturday's contest.

The Lions need to tighten up their kick return D if they want to win any games down the road.

Field Goals

Penn State went 0-for-3 on field goal kicks against the Temple Owls.

What's that about?

That was nine more points that PSU definitely could've used seeing as how they were losing pretty much the entire game.

Evan Lewis is awful, and freshmen Sam Ficken isn't the answer right now either.

Lewis is now 1-for-5 on field goals for the entire season.

Anthony Fera was the Lions sole punter against the Owls (five punts for 216 yards), but it looks like he's going to have to start kicking field goals as well.

Run Distribution

There was a very even distribution between the run game and the passing attack for Penn State, 37 pass attempts and 36 rushes to be exact; but the run game wasn't distributed properly. 

Why does Brandon Beachum have 11 carries while Silas Redd only has 16?

Redd should be getting a lot more carries then 16, especially when another running back gets 11. 

Redd is the best running back PSU has to offer, time for them to showcase his talents with the proper amount of carries (20-25 range). 

Penalties

There's no reason for Penn State to have seven penalties against Temple, especially when those seven penalties account for 69 yards the other way. 

Temple only had four carries in which they lost 30 yards. 

Having less penalties helped keep the Owls in control for the majority of the match (getting to this soon). 

Penalties take your offense out of the rhythm and psych out your defense. 

There's just bad news all around, and they're an area PSU needs to address. 

Maximizing Scoring Opportunities

It's safe to say the Nittany Lions left some points n the board.

Between the three missed field goals, to the 6-for-17 on third downs and the 20 seconds wasted on the last drive of the second half—PSU has some work to do. 

You can't leave points on the board if you want to win in the Big Ten. 

Conference play is right around the corner, and the Lions have to maximize on their scoring opportunities if they want to get some wins.