Penn State Football: Grading the Nittany Lions' Game vs. Indiana

Penn State's 16-10 victory over Indiana was less than inspiring, to say the least. While the Nittany Lions did get off on the right foot in Big Ten and Leaders Division play by placing one in the win column, the offense struggled against a poor defense all day. Once again, it was up to the defense to lead the way to victory.

Indiana entered the game ranked 77th in the nation in total defense, 72nd in scoring defense and 94th against the run. At times, those trends continued for the Hoosiers but Penn State stubbed their toes in trying to put Indiana away. A pair of turnovers in the red zone made for a frustrating afternoon for Penn State fans watching.

Here is a report card for the Indiana game.

Quarterbacks

Penn State's duo of Matt McGloin and Rob Bolden struggled once again, and this time may have been the worst yet.

The two combined for a total of 16 passes and out 36 attempts for 271 yards, 74 of which came on one pass from McGloin to Moye which scored the only passing touchdown of the day for Penn State.

McGloin was 10 for 22 and 204 yards, including the big play to Moye. Bolden completed six of 14 pass attempts for 67 yards but threw an interception in the end zone.

Indiana allowed a 58.7 completion percentage to opponents entering the game. Penn State's quarterback tandem completed just 44 percent of their passes.

"We played both kids again and I think both of them did a decent job," Joe Paterno said afterward. "I don't think either one of them played a better job (than the other) today, but they both hung in there. I think we'll go back home and we'll take a good look at it...But I have no intentions of concern."

Consider yourself warned.

Running Backs

Against a run defense that ranked 97th in the nation, Penn State should have exploited that for a big ground game. Silas Redd finished with 129 yards for his third 100-yard game of his career but a fumble down by the end zone was a rare mistake.

The team finished with 193 rushing yards in total. North Texas rushed for 226 yards last week. The same North Texas that ranks 82nd in the nation in rushing offense. Penn State also failed to score a rushing touchdown.

Wide Receivers

The wide receivers only had one decent play on the day, the 74-yard touchdown catch by Derek Moye. Moye led all players with 158 receiving yards and six catches. Justin Brown was second on Penn State with three catches for 41 yards.

When the quarterbacks struggle as much as they have been, the wide receivers will tend to be slow to catch up as well. Having different quarterbacks under center on a regular basis make it difficult for the receivers to establish their timing, and that seems to be the biggest issue.

But receivers are also dropping passes too frequently and it seems that the more critical drops always seem to come when Rob Bolden is leading the offense.

Is it a coincidence or is it a testament to Bolden's performance? After five weeks, you would think we would know the answer to this question.

Offensive Line

Against a woeful defensive line, Penn State's offensive line struggled to get any kind of push in the trenches.

"I didn't think we were staying on blocks," Paterno said. "I think remarks about Indiana last week may have had a little bit of an impact on how they went into this game," Pater said referencing statements made by the Indiana coaching staff being embarrassed about the defensive showing the previous week against North Texas.

"They thought that it was going to be easier. The Indiana kids played a much better game obviously. At least I would say that they did. I think that's a credit to their coaching staff. We didn't stay on blocks and we had a couple missed assignments. Guys at this stage I would hope would be a little bit better." 

Regardless of how inspired Indiana may have been, Penn State's offensive line continues to be pushed around by the opposition, putting the passing game under pressure and not providing enough time to observe the field. This results in mistakes being made by the quarterbacks with rushed passes and poorly thrown passes.

Defensive Line

Penn State only managed one sack but did have 10 tackles for a loss as a team. Jordan Hill had three tackles for a loss of 13 yards to lead the defensive line while the always steady Devon Still had two tackles for a loss of 10 yards.

This was not the most dominating performance by the defensive line, but they did help to hold the Indiana running game to 72 yards and a rushing average of 2.3 yards per attempt.

Sean Stanley forced a fumble and still recovered it for Penn State. The turnover placed Penn State in good position to pick up some points and helped swing the momentum in their direction.

Linebackers

Penn State's linebackers, playing the first full game without Mike Mauti on the field, played well as a unit.

Gerald Hodges led all players with 11 tackles, including seven solo tackles. Glenn Carson was second on the team with seven total tackles and Nate Stupar had four.

All in all, it appeared as though the linebackers showed that they will still miss Mauti's presence, and his loss will be felt against some teams, but this unit was more than ready for the job in Week 5. We will see if they can keep that kind of momentum going moving forward in the season.

Secondary

Indiana entered the week having only thrown two interceptions. Chaz Powell picked up the third.

Powell, Nick Sukay and Drew Astorino all had five tackles.

D'Anton Lynn, who was carted off the field last week in a home win against Eastern Michigan, did not make the trip with the team after battling some concussion effects from last week. He was scheduled to return to practice on Thursday and was evaluated as the week progressed. It remains unknown if he will be available for this week's game against Iowa.

Special Teams

Anthony Fera connected on three field goal attempts, with his only miss coming from 52 yards. He also handled the kickoffs and punts for a majority of the game, averaging 66.5 yards per kickoff and totaling 273 yards on seven punts, for an average of 39 yards per punt.

The punt return game never had an impact, with eight yards on four returns and the kick return game had just 31 yards on two returns.

While the return game struggled, the fact that the kicking game converted three field goal attempts is a positive.

Coaching

There is not a whole lot to gloat about in this one. Sure, a win is a win and the defense seemed more than well prepared to lead the way on the field in this game and pick up the victory. But the glaring problems on offense that seem to be getting worse as the season progresses are more than alarming.

"We have to do some things better obviously," Joe Paterno said.

"The Indiana kids played well, they were well coached and the best things about us was that we hung in there.

"We've got a lot of work to do, I won't disagree with that. But we hung in there and won the game. That's what you're supposed to do."

Overall

Though the offense struggled and the quarterback situation is reaching new levels of frustration for many, the defense was well prepared and the special teams saw improvement in the kicking game. And that should not go unnoticed, despite how ugly this win may have been.

It seemed as though Penn State took a couple steps back overall and that is cause for concern. Is it the coaching, or is it the players? It may be a mix of the two.

Penn State returns home for another Big Ten game this weekend. The Iowa Hawkeyes come to Beaver Stadium and will look to continue to puzzle the Nittany Lions the way they have so many times in the past decade. Few teams have dominated Penn State the way Iowa has. It will be a physical and demanding game.

There is plenty of work to do if the offense is going to find a way to win.

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.