James Franklin calls them “splash plays,” the tide-turning, highlight-reel plays that typically eat up big chunks of yardage and lead directly to points. Coming into Saturday’s game against Michigan State, Franklin’s Nittany Lions had been left, for the purposes of this analogy, all too dry all too often this fall.
Many of Penn State’s offensive woes stemmed from not being able to convert red-zone chances, but the Nittany Lions weren’t exactly piling up the touchdowns from outside the 20, either; through the first seven games, they had scored 12 touchdowns in the red zone and nine from outside of it.
It was a combination of factors – Sean Clifford’s accuracy issues and spotty pass protection made it tough to connect on routes downfield. Young running backs and defenses packing the box made it tough to spring long runs. And, more recently, the offense’s shift to a grind-it-out-and-control-the-clock-and-move-the-chains-with-quarterback-runs approach that, while taking the pressure off Clifford, reducing the chance for turnovers and arguably giving the team the best chance to win, did not seem to be the best approach for producing splash plays, either.
