Hindsight 2020: PSU Offense vs. Illinois

Wait, Kirk Ciarrocca’s Explosive Offense, You’re Leaving Already? But (checks watch) You JUST Got Here and We’ve Been Waiting FOREVER! Oh Well, Wanna Meet Up Again Down the Road? Say Sept. 4, 2021?

FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

Booked a hotel in Madison, Wisconsin, four weeks ago for Labor Day weekend 2021. Same night I booked a $240 a night, no-pets-allowed but hepatitis-friendly 2-star motel 30 miles from State College for Sept. 18. 

Give me hope. Give me normalcy. Give me something to look forward to, damn it. 

So as much as I wanted to see one more game, one more data point validating this late-season offensive revival, one more Penn State bowl game with an awkward Tourism Commission commercial touting all the non-fun things to do in a city none of us ever want to visit…I can’t say I’m crushed the 2020 ended prematurely. 

Not sure what the hell that has to do with Penn State’s offensive performance vs. Illinois, but whatever.  

FORMATIONS

Nine weeks/Nine games in and our boy Kirk is still unpacking the playbook – perhaps proof on how much COVID precautions slowed offensive installs. Anyway, it gives us content to fill this section, so here’s what was new vs. Illinois. 

3 WR. 2 TE. No RB. On plays featuring 5 offensive linemen, Ciarrocca has pulled his running back off the field maybe a half-dozen snaps this season…and never with two tight ends. This is Levis’ first snap of the game. Penn State has two TEs to the boundary side…84-Theo Johnson is on the line. 86-Brenton Strange is kind of playing a loose Wing. 

Illinois has a single-high safety. Both corners bail just before the snap. Cover 3. After aiding his big boys with a bunch of 7- and 8-man protections last week, Ciarrocca takes the parachute away from PSU’s offensive line here and sends five guys on routes. Levis doesn’t need much time…but if he did, it was there. Very well-blocked. 

Look around –Levis has a BUNCH of quality choices here. Down toward the bottom of your screen/phone, 3-Parker Washington is wide open. Or there’s 86-Strange one-on-one with a lesser athlete on a wheel route. Instead, Levis waits for 84-Johnson to clear the linebacker before firing a hole shot between Illinois DBs 21-Jartavius Martin and 31-Devon Witherspoon. Accurate throw doesn’t leave Johnson exposed/vulnerable. And Grade-A job by Johnson of knowing the defenders’ positioning and preparing for the inevitable contact/protecting the ball.

Took a minute, but it seemed by the season finale that Ciarrocca finally felt comfortable using non-Freiermuth tight ends as weapons in the passing game. From an athletic/ability standpoint, there’s not a huge drop-off (if any) between 87 and 86/84. Case in point:

This is also a new wrinkle on an old package (Note to Self: Try not to be as sophomoric in 2021). As you wrestle that disturbing image out of your brain, let us remind you this is the 6 OL, 2 TE (one in the backfield as a quasi fullback) HEAVY Levis look Ciarrocca debuted at Michigan.  Best guessimate, he’s probably run 25-30 plays out of this look…but this is the first time Ciarrocca let Levis throw out of it. 

Dotson jet motion– first clue something’s up.  Prior to this play, PSU WRs never motioned out of Twins in this formation. Dotson’s movement signals to Levis that Illinois is in man coverage. Illinois DB 17-Kendall Smith – the guy guarding Dotson – almost unintentionally clips teammate  25-Kerby Joseph, but the junior actually does a great job sifting through the slop.  Joseph avoids his teammates, avoids a half-ass pick/rub by 3-Washington and has Strange in the crosshairs for a 4th down TFL…only problem is you got to tackle the guy, too. 

Soooo, about that…Joseph is a WR.  

We paused the DVR to make sure this dude wasn’t someone else wearing a different number. Nope. “Joseph” is stitched on the jersey nameplate. Guess Illinois really was depleted on defense, huh? Sorry to spoil the party, Brenton. Don’t feel too bad, though. It’s still a broken tackle, sweet leap for six, and great pitch material if you’re hoping to land a Scott’s Turf Builder endorsement when the NCAA greenlights Name-Image-Likeness. 

SUBSTITUTIONS

Roster Dump Roll Call! 

9-Ta’Quan Roberson, played. 30-Joseph Bruno (a preferred walk-on who actually looked fairly decent), played. 19-Jaden Dottin, played. 80-Malick Meiga, played. 38-Tank Smith (All-Name Team), played. 77-Sal Wormley, played. 55-Anthony Whigan played A LOT…we’ll actually breakdown a few of the Lackawanna C.C. standout’s snaps in the Blocking section below. Let’s see….anyone else we missed? Oh, 72-Bryce Effner, played. 

For the third straight Saturday, 69-CJ Thorpe – a guy you’d figure is in line to reclaim his lost starting Right Guard spot in 2021 (if he comes back) – didn’t step off the sidelines. Assuming 71-Will Fries doesn’t take a mulligan and return for a super senior season, figure the 2021 Guard-Center-Guard trident is some combination of Thorpe-Scruggs-Miranda. Because of the avalanche of points, 62-Michal Menet and 53-Rasheed Walker didn’t play every snap for the first time this season. If Walker’s smart, he’ll return for another year of school. He’s not NFL ready. 

At wide receiver, 5-Jahan Dotson – 6 Rec, 189 Yards, 2 TD — earned his Capri Sun and orange slices early and basically peaced out (hopefully, not for good) midway through the 3rd Quarter. Because of that, true freshman 3-Parker Washington out-snapped all other receivers…which we’ll assume is a program-first. Again, that’s just a guess. If you want to go all Lou Prato and tell us, “Well, actually in 1914 Cornelius ‘Iron Lung’ McCrackington…”, knock your socks off. I’m too busy drinking whisky and ignoring family to do research. 

Oh, 6-Cam Sullivan-Brown reeled in his first catch of 2020. 

In the competitive portion of Saturday’s smackdown, 24-Keyvone Lee and 26-Caziah Holmes split carries much more evenly than they did vs. MSU and Rutgers. 28-Devyn Ford didn’t play…presumably because of injury…and really missed out on a golden opportunity to shine on stage he might never step on, again.  Harsh but true. Shitty fate (the misfortunes of others) offered Ford a golden chance to be THE Guy, but instead, he was a JAG – Just a Guy – this season.

RUN/PASS BLOCKING

Man, 580 yards total offense? 

Penn State’s offensive must’ve been pushing orange hats around like a bossy Whataburger manager, right? 

(Note: No one in the Northeast will get that reference, but it’s all I could come up with…Note 2: I just googled Whataburger employee uniforms. They wear orange shirts and gray/black hats, so this metaphor isn’t accurate . Man, 2020 is the worst. Now, back to the imaginary guy asking questions…)

Eh, not really. I’d argue the Nittany Lions O-Line played better vs. Indiana, Nebraska, Michigan and Rutgers…but they obviously got the job done against Bret’s new bunch. Up and down effort all game, though. 

For the second week in a row, Penn State’s pass protection struggled early. Versus Sparty, Clifford threw from a dirty pocket 4 of 7 dropbacks to start. On Saturday, 2 of the first 4 dropbacks were uncomfortable, including this sack on a blitz.

Illinois brings 6. The linebacker 35-Jake Hansen hints at pressure well before the snap (no disguise) but 62-Menet simply misses him – 24-Lee can’t really help because he’s (correctly) picking up the other blitzing Illinois linebacker 5-Milo Eifler.

More trouble picking up blitzes. For those wondering why 26-Holmes’ rushing attempts kept going down throughout the season, here’s the reason:

Much of the same with the run game – some hit, some miss. We’ll showcase the positive.

On this play – which only gained 7 yards because 26-Holmes didn’t do much “extra” – 62-Menet, 53-Walker and 73-Miranda completely eclipse the Illinois front and drive them backwards. Holmes isn’t really touched until five yards downfield. 

70-Juice Scruggs (belated All-Name Team, not sure how we missed this) flashed on a few plays this game and should feel good about what he put on tape going into 2021. In the Pass Catching section, you’ll see him swallow an Illinois DB in space on a screen pass. But for now, let’s appreciate his effort on a critical 4th and 3 QB keeper early in the game – we graded Scruggs +3 on this play. 

Sean Fitz of 247Sports/Fight on State had a great “enter stage right, exit stage left” line on Twitter, referring to the second replay. It’s funny, but it’s also true! Scruggs  weight rooms (verb) 49-Seth Coleman completely out of frame!

It’s a 6 OL Heavy formation. Scruggs is the extra beef. It’s an RPO in that Levis has Strange running a route to the flat…but that’s taken out of the equation when 21-Martin honors his assignment and follows Strange. 53-Walker (+2 on this play) opens the alley by blocking down on 93-Calvin Avery while 73-Miranda gets juuust enough of 35-Hansen to keep him off-balance while trying to close the open gap. That leaves 7-Levis one-on-one with unblocked 42-Michael Marchese – a battle easily won thanks to a quick decision and violent, aggressive run. 

Finally, 55-Anthony Whigan – a big-time JC recruit last season – saw the field in the third quarter and, like those around him, did some good things and some bad things. In this two-clip montage, we’ll see Whigan get a piece of Illinois 88-Keith Randolph, Jr. to open up the running lane for Lee…then we’ll watch 93-Avery school Whigan for a sack. 

QUARTERBACK PLAY

As One-Hit-Wonder Stacey Q sang in 1986, “Two QB Charts…two charts that read as onnnne…Two QB Charts…I neeeeed you, I neeeed you…”

*Does not include 2 Throwaways/Batted Balls. 

*Does not include 1 Batted Ball. 

Oh, those aren’t the lyrics? Our bad. 

So here’s the deal with this week’s QB Section – there’s not a whole helluva lot to examine. Sean Clifford’s first half stats jumped off the page, but journey to compile those nice numbers wasn’t super tricky or interesting…which is why all the big Dotson plays are clipped in the next section. 

But don’t fret. There are a couple nuggets to show you. 

In our opinion – so take it as fact – Clifford’s biggest improvement post-benching is his eye-level discipline. The embattled redshirt junior has fixed the bad habit of dropping his eyes and looking at the rush, thus missing late-developing opportunities down the field. Perfect example:

A+ pass protection. 5-Dotson is open on the shallow crosser, but I guess Clifford wants a bigger chunk, so he holds the ball. Illinois 94-Jer’zhan Newton wiggles free and scares Clifford out of the pocket. A strong thrower when rolling to the right, Clifford finds 3-Washington streaking across left to right. The ball is a touch behind Washington, which helps the young receiver get a foot down inbounds – 15 yards, clock stops. 

This being Clifford, however, he did have a couple dud throws. 

Not sure what the hell happened on this 3rd Quarter deep ball to 13-KeAndre Lambert-Smith (KLS)? Ugly throw coming out of Clifford’s hand. A ball that needs to travel 55 yards (KLS is open if the pass doesn’t hang) only travels 45 yards and thus an explosive play turns into 2nd and 10. 

PASS CATCHING

Considering Penn State won three games in a row, thanks in large part to child-proofing the passing game vs. Michigan and Rutgers down to a sequence of one-read slant routes to the slot receiver, it was hard to knock Ciarrocca’s conservative play-calling choices. However, the saltine-cracker route to victory did take away Penn State’s best offensive weapon – 5-Jahan Dotson. 

In those two wins, Dotson had 7 catches for 60 yards. 

In the next two wins – victories where Ciarrocca opened up the offense and Penn State posted its highest-scoring outputs of 2020 – Dotson had 14 catches for 297 yards and 2 touchdowns. 

Lesson learned: Give Dotson the ball. 

The beauty of this play is its simplicity. It’s a hitch. That’s all. Brilliant choice by Ciarrocca to open with a pass. Illinois surrendered 400+ rushing yards the previous week vs. Northwestern. Naturally, Ciarrocca correctly predicted they’d over compensate to fix that problem. Look at the two safeties bite at the run fake…Dotson catches this ball 9 yards from the LOS. The Illini safeties are 6 and 8 yards from the LOS when he does. Clifford’s inaccurate throw inside unintentionally pulls Dotson upfield, giving him a running start post-catch.

Let’s post the chart so we can get to more Dotson clips…

*Chart doesn’t include uncatchable passes (5)

Back with ya. 

OK, another hitch. 

Dotson’s ability to make guys miss after the catch caught us by surprise in 2020. Maybe it shouldn’t have. Dotson flashed a few moves on that long touchdown vs. Purdue in 2019. But he also slowed down (for some reason) and failed to score (when I think he could have) on that late 4th Quarter catch vs. Minnesota in 2019. Above, he flips an 8-yard hitch into a 25-yard gain by juking two defenders.

Finally, here’s a classic case where recruiting stars matter. 

Same screen-wheel route concept Parker Washington hit for 49 yards last week. This time, though, the Illinois defenders are playing so soft Clifford ignores the wheel and hits the screen. Like we said earlier, Scruggs swallows an Illini defender (did he try a duck under Scruggs’ legs?) and other o-linemen are in good position to make a block, if needed.

They’re not needed. 

The 4-star Dotson just outruns angles for another long touchdown.