MIKE GROSS | Sports WriterOFFENSE: Closed fast to make the numbers look good (510 yards, 343 passing yards), but the opposing defense wasn’t a great one. Amazing inablility to involve WRs, and strange inability to fully leverage the run game, were huge in this game and this season. Grade: D.
DEFENSE: Tough spot for these guys - new coordinator, critical opt-outs and a uniquely challenging scheme and set of skill-position weapons. Still, the Rebels had 540 yards, 30 first downs, and utterly closed the deal after halftime. Tough way for a great unit to bow out. Grade: C-minus.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Punter Riley Thompson averaged nearly 50 yards per kick. His effort was mostly nullified, for report card purposes, by Penn State having a field goal blocked. Overall, not much of a factor, but not a positive one. Grade: C-plus.
COACHING: This might be the toughest grade in report card history. It’s hard to know fully what Franklin and Co. were dealing with in the run-up to this game, but it obviously wasn’t favorable. The Lions played with good energy, but it was clearly a damaged football team in terms of the roster, the staff and, perhaps, the collective psyche. Grade: C.
