Penn State Football Report Card: Bowling Green Edition

Penn State’s James Franklin clearly was impressed with Bowling Green on Saturday, saying that the “moment wasn’t too big for them.” And it wasn’t. The Falcons led by 10 points in the second quarter, had three cracks at reclaiming a fourth-quarter lead and forced Penn State to recover an onside kick to win this thing.

As much respect as they professed to have for Bowling Green, the No. 8 Nittany Lions still didn’t expect that. In its 34-27 victory Saturday, Penn State looked occasionally dominant, often disshevled and a bit detached (especially on defense) from its season-opening win at West Virginia. With a bye week ahead, Penn State coach James Franklin said the team must get some things “cleaned up, for sure.”

To the report card.

RELATED: No. 8 Penn State absorbs a punch, rebounds to beat Bowling Green

OFFENSE: B

Penn State’s offense hasn’t had to answer a game-opening touchdown drive in nearly three years, which clearly caught its attention. The Nittany Lions scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions, including a 3-play, 75-yard drive, and got huge days from their running backs and tight end. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen turned in tandem 100-yard games for the second time in their careers and averaged 8.1 per carry together. These two are back, particuarly Singleton, who already has three carries of 40+ yards this season (he had none last year).

Penn State deployed Tyler Warren (146 yards receiving) to be the beast that he is, especially against linebackers who can’t run with him or tackle him. A few curious things, though: Penn State has been too hyper-focused on single pass-catchers in each game: Tre Wallace (nine catches) last week and Warrren (eight) this week. On Saturday, Wallace didn’t catch a pass and was targeted just three times. And with a chance to wrestle control of the game in the fourth, Penn State gained just 5 yards on two series.

DEFENSE: C

So that was a great second half, which evidently began with new coordinator Tom Allen telling the group in his raspiest voice, “It’s a dogfight.” Should it have been? Yes, Bowling Green has an experienced quarterback in Connor Bazelak, a big, physical line and a tight end in Harold Fannin Jr. who is Warren’s MAC equivalent. Still, a 24-point first half was shocking. Nobody did that to Penn State last year. Heck, only one team scored more than 24 on the Nittany Lions all of 2023 (Ole Miss against an opt-out depleted secondary in the Peach Bowl).

Penn State’s four-man front isn’t generating consistent, forceful pressure, the tackling was much worse than last week and the highly praised secondary was gashed. But some coverage adjustments, better tackling and a bit more fire highlighted Penn State’s far superior second half. Of note: Starting safety KJ Winston, a signature defensive player, did not play in the second half.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

The first player Franklin mentioned postgame was kicker Sander Sahaydak, who had his first two-field goal game at Penn State. Sahaydak took advantage of his second chance after missing a 47-yarder at West Virginia last week. He made both field goals in the second quarter, including a career-long 43-yarder, to restore belief. Punter Riley Thompson had a better day, averaging 47 yards per attempt with a long of 56. And careful, Kaden Saunders. The punt returner fumbled one attempt. Fortunately, for him, it went out of bounds before enterprising Bowling Green could recover it.

COACHING: C

Several defensive players said postgame that their urgency and energy weren’t present early. No kidding. But Allen took care of that at halftime, which seems an important lesson. Franklin also has to get in the team’s face about penalties. After committing eight last week, the Nittany Lions had seven Saturday. That includes two more offside calls on the defense, bringing the total to six in two games.

OVERALL: C

The Penn State crowd white-knuckled this one until late in the fourth quarter, not where they expected to be for a home opener. As a self-contained entity, this game was shaggy. As a data point in a long season, maybe it won’t matter. “We needed something to test us,” defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas said. The Nittany Lions got it. Let’s see how they respond.

More Penn State Football

Three things we learned from Penn State’s precarious win over Bowling Green

Penn State 34, Bowling Green 27: Breakdown of a precarious win at Beaver Stadium

Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.