The offense was off all day long, starting the game with 4 straight 3 and outs and failing to even come close to 300 yards. The defense looked good in the first half, but it couldn't get off the field on 3 long second-half touchdown drives. The only unit to do anything good was the special teams, which got a turnover off of a muffed punt and a touchdown from a Venric Mark punt return.

The stats tell the tale in this one: Trevor Siemian managed fewer than 4 yards per attempt passing, while Penn State converted 10 of 22 third downs and 5 of 6 fourth downs. The gameplan seemed to take the ball out of the hands of Kain Colter and Venric Mark on days in which they were the best things going for the offense: Mark managed 71 yards and a touchdown on only 13 carries, while Colter got 24 and a touchdown on 5 carries, caught 3 passes for 17 yards, and didn't attempt a pass.