Penn State's Defense Was Good Enough on Saturday to Win, this One is On the Offense

Saturday is one of the most inexcusable losses in recent memory, not only for Penn State but for college football at large. There is absolutely no reason that the Nittany Lions should have lost that football game, but they did.

While they gave up more points to the Badgers, this loss simply isn't on the Penn State defense. 

Wisconsin's offense struggled for three and a half quarters, but it proved to be just enough for them to get a victory. Penn State gave up just 335 yards, including the 72-yard touchdown that lost the game. 

Outside of that play, the Nittany Lions defense gave up just 283 yards on 65 plays. That comes out to an average of 4.35 yards per play. Not only that, they forced three interceptions and caused two fumbles, even though they did not recover them.

That is absolutely winning football on that side of the ball, and they were let down by their offense. 

Saturday was a typical case of why you do not let an inferior opponent hang around. Especially at the college level, if you let a bad football team hang in a game, a ref will miss a call, a guy will break three tackles and rumble to a 75-yard score to win the game. 

When it is boiled down, the result of this game falls squarely on the offensive side of the football and on the quarterback. 

Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht played, obviously, his worst game as a Nittany Lion, but truly one of his worst games ever in his long college career. 

It was his third-worst completion percentage game; believe it or not, he had two games with 37 percent, and depending on whatever quarterback rating metric you use, it was his worst game ever according to Sports Reference's Passer Efficiency Rating. It doesn't matter how you cut it; it was one of his worst games he ever played, and it cost the Nittany Lions a very winnable game.

Now, going forward, the Nittany Lions are a victim of what looked to be a blessing. They have three games on their schedule that are a class up from them that they now simply have to win. 

Their games against Michigan, USC, and Washington were once a stretch that they could get away with a 2-1 record. That reality doesn't exist anymore. If they want to have a postseason, they have to win all three of those games.

Before they get to that point, their hands are full with fixing what is directly in front of them. Simply put, they have to be better or else the season might unravel quickly.