Three Takeaways: Penn State survives scare from Indiana

Open competition at wide receiver?

Fans have been calling for it for weeks, but now it seems that the Penn State coaching staff has finally had enough with the production out of its usual rotation of wide receivers. After numerous drops, we finally saw some “new” faces out there for the Nittany Lions in Cam Sullivan-Brown, Jahan Dotson, and Daniel George. It will be interesting to see how the wide receiver group looks next week, but it’s notable that the coaching staff finally pulled the trigger on potentially making changes.

Shaka Toney is a bad, bad man...

Shaka Toney saw the majority of his playing time on Saturday in the second half, and it would be an understatement to say that his second half was impressive as he totaled four sacks and a forced a fumble. He was a breath of fresh air for a defensive line that was struggling to get real pressure for much of the game, and came up big when Penn State needed him most.

Lack of improvement

Last week against Michigan State, we saw that this Penn State team, no matter how good it looked against Ohio State for 52 minutes, has its fair share of flaws. On Saturday, many expected a bounce back against the Hoosiers, but it was anything but that.

There was simply no sign of improvement. Wide receivers catching the ball? No. The defensive line getting consistent pressure? No. The defense tackling properly? No. There was simply no improvement from week-to-week, and that falls on the coaching staff. What makes it worse is that, as a whole, they keep making the same dumb mistakes that could cost them games.

This team has the talent to go 10-2, but it may not have the mental fortitude to do so. Either way, we’ll find out next Saturday when the Nittany Lions take on a strong Iowa team that took them to down to the wire last season.

It’s Iowa, Iowa, Iowa, time.