The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing the start to Penn State football’s season

Penn State has started its season 5-0, with three conference victories. But the Nittany Lions still have their two biggest matchups remaining — against Ohio State and Michigan — and have work to do to earn wins in those games.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the start to the season.

Good

Defensive ends: There are a lot of elite position groups on this roster, and specifically on the defense, but I don’t think any of them are quite as good as the group of defensive ends. The Nittany Lions boast three players that could be all-conference candidates right now in Adisa Isaac, Chop Robinson and Dani Dennis-Sutton, while having players like Amin Vanover and Zuriah Fisher as depth — players who are good enough to start at plenty of places. The top three are not just three of the best in the conference, but three of the best in the country.

Robinson should be an easy first round pick — and a high one at that. Isaac is going to have a long NFL career and Dennis-Sutton may end up being the best of the bunch when all is said and done. The entire room has generated pressure consistently and is one spot the team can hang its hat on the rest of the way.

Olu Fashanu: It’s hard for a projected top-five pick to come back to school and not harm their draft stock. But here we are, five games into Olu Fashanu’s second year as a starter, and he’s somehow even better than he was before. The star left tackle has been a wall in the passing game. No matter the opponent, he’s been elite at protecting his quarterback’s blindside. Fashanu has some of the best footwork in the country, and uses his length to keep pass rushers away and even when they get inside his wingspan he’s strong enough to hold his ground — especially because he’s already positioned himself well with his feet.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him have his snaps limited in certain matchups where his services aren’t as necessary. That will open things up for him to play a full workload at full strength by the time Ohio State and Michigan roll around.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith: Wide receiver remains a question mark overall, but it’s difficult to argue how good the guy at the top has been. KeAndre Lambert-Smith is clearly the best of the bunch right now — not counting Harrison Wallace III who has been banged up for a few weeks — and is one of sophomore quarterback Drew Allar’s favorite targets. He’s caught 25 passes for 372 yards and two touchdowns this season and consistently gets open at all three levels of the defense.

There have been a number of times where his quarterback didn’t find him and he was open deep, which means those numbers could be even higher. Lambert-Smith can play in the slot or on the outside, allowing offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich to use him as a chess piece and find the best matchups for the offense. This could have been a make or break year for the receiver who struggled to find consistency, and thus far it’s in favor of the former rather than the latter.

Drew Allar: Has it been a perfect five games for Drew Allar? No. But it has been an overwhelmingly positive start for the first-year starter. He still has all of the tools that translate easily onto the field — the big arm, the ability to utilize different arm slots to find open receivers and the athleticism and poise to make things happen when things are breaking down around him. Right now that’s translating to a more game manager style of play but I tend to think he should break out soon with the kind of downfield shots that will separate him from most other quarterbacks.

Through five games he has not been asked to win the team games on his own, but he may have to against Michigan and Ohio State. When that time comes, I’m confident he’ll step up and become one of the clear-cut best quarterbacks in college football by the end of the year.

Bad

The rest of the healthy receivers: Sure, the section is called bad, but I think it’s more fair to say these are just areas of improvement. Both of these spots have been fine — but the program has set a higher standard than that. Anyway, Lambert-Smith has been great, but the group behind he and Wallace is not where it needs to be. Players like Liam Clifford, Kaden Saunders, Malik McClain and Malick Meiga have been fine when they’ve been available, but none have stepped up to grab the third spot, or even the second one when Wallace doesn’t play.

That’s where Dante Cephas comes in. He’s been inconsistent but has flashed some of the upside he showed frequently at Kent State. His role continues to grow and right now he’s the offense’s best bet to step up and be the No. 3 receiver and could have a grip on that role by the end of the year.

Running game: For the first time in a while it feels like this isn’t on the offensive line. The group up front has been good in all aspects this season and especially in the running game. Oddly enough, this has been an issue with two of the most talented players on the roster in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Neither of the two sophomore running backs have been elite this year, they’ve just been regular good. That isn’t the level that’s expected from a duo that was discussed as arguably the best in the country heading into this season.

It still might be, but it’s not producing at that point right now. Singleton especially has struggled to find as much success as he did last season. That being said, I would not be surprised at all if these two end up being the two best players on the roster the rest of the way.

Ugly

Explosive plays on offense: James Franklin mentioned it. Mike Yurcich mentioned it. Everybody is mentioning it. This offense is not nearly explosive enough right now. It’s not just Singleton or Allen, and it’s not Allar and his receivers. It’s everybody. Nobody has been able to create explosive plays consistently and the whole unit is suffering because of it. It’s possible that the lack of downfield shots has made things harder in the running game because defenses can play closer to the line of scrimmage when deep attempts aren’t a big threat. Its imperative that the problem gets solved because this team has high enough aspirations that it’s going to need an explosive offense.

For as good as the defense is, it’s hard to envision this team winning the Big Ten and qualifying for the College Football Playoff without the offense catching up or at least getting closer to being one of the best in the country. It’s a lot to ask, but that’s the standard for a team that wants to win the national title.