Penn State Football: Report Card Grades for Penn State vs. Temple

Penn State's 14-10 victory against Temple was anything but pretty, and despite an overpowering showing from the offense, there were some positives to pull from. But the negatives this week far outweigh the positives.

Here's a look at the report card from Penn State's week three match-up with the Owls, and a season cumulative grade to this point.

Previous Report Cards

• Week 1 - Indiana State
• Week 2 - Alabama

Kevin McGuire is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or via official interview materials from Penn State University. McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Google+ and Twitter. Become a fan of him on Facebook.

Report Card: Quarterback

Grade: D

For the third straight week the quarterbacks for Penn State failed to throw a touchdown pass.

Rob Bolden got the start for the Nittany Lions and finished the game on the field, but his afternoon was anything but pretty behind woeful pass protection from the offensive line. Bolden completed nine of 17 passes for 92 yards and was intercepted once. His interception came on the play immediately following a fumble recovery by Penn State's defense.

Matt McGloin had a little bit better of an afternoon, going 13-for-19 and 124 yards but also showing some signs of panic or rushed judgement.

Cumulative Season Grade: D+

Three weeks in and Penn State has failed to score a touchdown through the air. Penn State is one of six schools to not have a single passing touchdown. The other five are Oregon State, Florida Atlantic, UAB, San Jose State and Central Florida.

Report Card: Running Back

Grade: B-

In a game featuring some talented running backs, Penn State's Silas Redd led the Nittany Lions with 89 yards and a touchdown while averaging 5.4 yards per rush. As a team, Penn State rushed for 121 yards .

Michael Zordich came through with the key play of the day, a one-yard touchdown plunge into the endzone with under three minutes to play to give Penn State a 13-10 lead, their first lead of the day.

Cumulative Season Grade: B-

With the passing game struggling on many levels through three weeks, it has been on the running game to lead the way. Alabama and Temple played a physical defensive style, which made it difficult to establish too much of a rhythm, but for the most part, the running game has been pretty decent.

Report Card: Wide Receivers

Grade: B

When the ball was thrown in their direction, Penn State's receivers seemed to make enough good catches. There were a few drops once again to hold them back, but there were few difficult passes that gave receivers too much trouble. The problem was usually quarterbacks getting off bad passes.

Derek Moye recorded a 100-yard game with 112 yards on seven catches and Justin Brown had six catches for 62 yards. Brown came up with a few key catches as well.

Cumulative Season Grade: C

Too many dropped passes this season have lead to the Nittany Lions failing to back up their quarterbacks as they battle for the full-time job under center.

Report Card: Offensive Line

Grade: D

Run blocking was adequate enough, but pass protection was once again a serious concern.

Quarterbacks were under pressure for a majority of the game and were forced to get rid of the ball sooner than desired and had little time to react. Until the offensive line can show signs of improving in pass protection, it may not matter who will take snaps.

Temple only managed to sack Bolden once in the game, for a loss of 12 yards.

Cumulative Season Grade: D+

It has been three weeks and the pass protections have not gotten any better. For Penn State, time is starting to wind down before having to face off with some quality defenses in Big Ten play, such as Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

The question remains if settling on one quarterback will help solve anything with regards to a uniform timing between the line and the quarterback.

Report Card: Defensive Line

Grade: A-

Devon Still led the Nittany Lions defensive line to a solid performance against an offense that had put up over 40 points in each of the past two weeks. Still tied for the team lead in tackles with six total tackles against the Owls, including one sack for a loss of six yards. Sean Stanley added another sack for one of his two tackles for a loss in the game.

Temple got off to a solid start in the first half by pushing around Penn State defenders enough to put up ten points in the first half, but Bernard Pierce's production was limited after that largely because of the defensive line working through a physical match-up in the trenches. 

The defensive line finally was able to bring some more consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback after showing an ability to do so against Alabama last week.

Cumulative Season Grade: C+

The defensive line still needs to show they can consistently bring pressure on the outsides but appears to be very solid in the middle with Still drawing attention from the opposition.

Report Card: Linebackers

Grade: B+

Michael Mauti tied for the team lead in tackles with six, all solo. Glenn Carson and Gerald Hodges did not have big days as far as numbers go, and there were a number of plays where the linebackers were chasing down Bernard Pierce.

But overall, the linebackers were aggressive and aware of where the ball was. They helped to break up passes and prevent Temple's offense from continuing to move the football with the game on the line. Mauti broke up one pass and intercepted another.

Cumulative Season Grade: B

The linebackers are still one of the strengths of the team and will continue to be so as the season progresses.

Report Card: Secondary

Grade: A-

Temple completed 12 of 28 pass attempts for 123 yards and threw two interceptions. Nick Sukay, Chaz Powell, and Drew Astorino each had five tackles in the game, and the secondary came up with two turnovers (one interception and one fumble recovery).

In this game, Penn State needed the secondary to come up big against Temple's offense, and they got the performance they needed.

Cumulative Season Grade: B

Heading in to the season there was plenty of hype for Penn State's secondary, and for the most part , they have done as expected.

Report Card: Special Teams

Grade: F

Penn State has a serious concern on special teams.

Penn State was 0-for-3 on field goal attempts against the Owls and had a net average of 34.3 yards per kickoff, compared to Temple's 46.3 yards per kickoff.

Cumulative Season Grade: D

Penn State needs to settle on a quarterback, but they also need to solve their placekicking problem soon. No team can go through an entire season without having someone capable of kicking field goals.

Penn State is 1-for-6 on field goal attempts after three weeks of the season.

Report Card: Coaching and Intangibles

Grade: D

The defensive side of the coaching staff and game planning has earned high marks. Penn State said coming into the game against Temple that there would be a very tough offense to worry about, and they held the Owls to ten points and fewer than 200 yards of offense, including holding one of the nation's top running backs to under 100 yards on the ground.

That should not go without praise.

But the fact that the offense continues to struggle is alarming, and the switching of the quarterbacks has gone on for too long at this point in time. Just when it appeared that the offense was starting to put something together under one quarterback, the other was inserted, and it was more back-and-forth throughout the game.

An identity will not be formed this way unless the coaching staff has made the decision that it will run with two quarterbacks, a move not endorsed by many.

Time management was also a concern at the end of the first half. Penn State wasted approximately 15-20 seconds at the end of the first half before calling a timeout on defense.

Cumulative Season Grade: D+

If the quarterback situation were set in stone, then the odds are good that the Nittany Lions would have a higher grade for coaching, but the most important position on the field continues to be a complete mystery to anyone following the program.

Kevin McGuire is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or via official interview materials from Penn State University. McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Google+ and Twitter. Become a fan of him on Facebook.