Hindsight 2020: PSU Offense vs. Rutgers 

This Being the Holiday Season, Penn State’s Offense – Specifically the Big Eaters Up Front – Extended Maul Hours vs. Rutgers on Saturday, Literally Pushing Its Way to Another More-Spit-Than-Polish Victory.  

FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Big Ten Weather. 

Of all the shortsighted moves the Big Ten made back in Sept. when it decided to reboot the football season, the decision to play 3 games in December (all but one occurring outdoors) escaped a lot of criticism, but shouldn’t get a free pass. 

I’m not a meteorologist, but I lived in Big Ten country long enough to know December in places like Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania isn’t like those picturesque Budweiser Clydesdale ads. No, it’s cold, wet, gray, muddy, windy, more gray, and downright miserable – like what I’d imagine a Milwaukee’s Best beer commercial would be, if they ever decided to advertise on TV. 

So as we examine Penn State’s offense this week and the next two weeks, God willing, keep these gross conditions in mind when complaining about the Nittany Lions unevolved Neanderball offense. 

FORMATIONS

Other than last week’s 6 OL Heavy Will Levis Package vs. Michigan, doesn’t it seem every time Kirk Ciarrocca debuts a new formation, the resulting play is an absolute disaster?

So Ciarrocca has used Shotgun Empty before – starting vs. Maryland. And Ciarrocca has used 4 WRs and a TE in Shotgun Empty before, too – starting vs. Michigan. But we’ve never seen this 3-player slot bunch in Shotgun Empty Quads before. And until it’s fixed, we hope to never see it again.

First off, Penn State doesn’t have numbers. The Rutgers linebacker lines up way outside of the box – 4 defenders, 3 blockers. If there’s a QB draw element to this play, Clifford should have checked that box and took off –  4 defenders, 5 blockers with the Rutgers safety playing 12 yards deep vs. a QB capable of making dudes look silly in space. Second, Dotson is already positioned 3.5 yards off the LOS, but the route (at least the way it’s ran) asks him to retreat another 1.5 yards – killing any potential lead-up momentum. Dotson catches the ball flatfooted half-a-first-down away from the LOS. Finally, 85-Isaac “Rudy” Lutz doesn’t block anyone. That’s never good. Do better, Kirk.

However, we’re LOVING Ciarrocca’s tendency breaking plays inside the Red Zone. Last week, after peppering Michigan with a boatload of slants, Ciarrocca had Dotson fake slant, stop and pivot out on a whip route to convert on a crucial 3rd down in the 4th Quarter. This week, after inside zoning Rutgers to death, Ciarrocca dialed up this outside run for 6. 

EVERY Rutgers defender squeezes hard inside. Heck, the only Penn State player who really needs to block anyone is 71-Will Fries, who stones the blitzing Rutgers linebacker 3-Olakunle Fatukasi (who didn’t have a good day, keep reading). Both the DE and the CB voluntarily run themselves out of the play because they’re cheating so hard on anything up the middle.

SUBSTITUTIONS

For the first time this season, left guard 73-Mike Miranda played the entire game – meaning four PSU offensive linemen (Miranda, Menet, Fries and Walker) lined up for all 79 snaps. After playing his best game post-demotion last week against Michigan, backup guard 69-CJ Thorpe didn’t play, at all. Not sure why. 71-Will Fries started at Right Guard but Shifted to Right Tackle when 70-Juice Scruggs entered the game for a few series. 

At running back, 28-Devyn Ford returned to the starting lineup after missing last week because of a family matter. Ford and true freshman 24-Keyvone Lee split carries pretty much evenly. 26-Caziah Holmes is seeing his workload lighten, which is disappointing because even in limited action, he’s displayed an extra gear Ford and Lee simply don’t possess. 

At wide receiver, nothing of note, really. 5-Jahan Dotson and 3-Parker Washington played approximately 85 percent of all snaps. 13-KeAndre Lambert-Smith saw more action, as did 85-Rudy Lutz. 6-Cam Sullivan-Brown, 11-Daniel George and 10- TJ Jones didn’t get targeted in limited reps.  

Finally, Will Levis replaced Sean Clifford for a series after an interception.  

RUN/PASS BLOCKING

Good linemen wear White. 

For no good reason, Penn State’s offensive line – which misses more blocks than Rich Little on Hollywood Squares when donning its Basic Blues at the Beav — pieced together another thumbs-up effort on the road.  BoFlo and Dave Jones from PennLive/The Patriot-News gushed about the offensive line’s performance during their Live From the Unused Bedroom/Attic Postgame Show –  always appointment viewing for us  – asking where’s this dominant group been all season.

I’ll take a stab at that, guys: they’ve been in Bloomington, Lincoln, Ann Arbor and now Exit 9, because after re-watching Saturday’s one-sided slugfest, PSU’s offensive line played at about the same level (or even slightly below the same level) they’ve played away from home all season. 

Pass protection was good-to-great but came short of reaching protection standards set at Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan — plus Sean Clifford threw screens on 6 of 24 drop backs, so that certainly aided these numbers below.  

On the ground, Penn State totaled  248 rush yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry – which is really good (good enough to win, obviously) but technically the lowest average per rush of any road game this season. Actually, it’s freaky how consistent Penn State’s run totals have been in the all-whites:

• Indiana 250 Rush Yards (4.8 per carry)
• Nebraska 245 Rush Yards (4.7 per carry)
• Michigan 254 Rush Yards  (5.1 per carry)
• Rutgers 248 Rush Yards (4.4 per carry)  

So what’s with all the O-Line love? Why now? Well, as we wrote last week, winning is the strongest deodorant. Also, the optics are way different. Even if the yardage totals end in the same neighborhood, the on-screen product looks way more precise, way more cohesive, and way more physically dominant. 

I mean, look at this montage showing Penn State’s big fellas just absolutely push around a gassed and demoralized Rutgers’ front 7 on a deception-free 4th Quarter ‘Neanderball’ drive – 9 runs, 1 pass – that began on the Nits’ 2-yard-line.

A few plays prior, Penn State’s Keyvone Lee ripped off a 31-yard dash (well, IDK if dash is the right term…more like a 31-yard brisk jog ) that moved the Nittany Lions out of trouble deep in their own territory. On this drive, 71-Will Fries moved to Right Tackle and 70-Juice Scruggs filled Fries’ vacancy at Right Guard.  

Zone Read. It’s subtle but credit Clifford for riding this mesh long enough to get the read defender 6-Rashawn Battle to transfer all his weight to his right foot –like he’s about to lunge outside to tackle Clifford instead of squeezing inside once Lee takes the ball. That slight misstep allows Lee to squirt through the hole without resistance. Fries blocks down on the Rutgers DE. Scruggs bounces Rutgers linebacker 3-Olakunle Fatukasi (a guy who isn’t sad to see Penn State leave town) two yards backwards.  And center 62-Michal Menet walls off and seals undersized but scrappy Rutgers DT 50-Julius Turner. 73-Mike Miranda misses his block on 99-Michael Dwumfour but gets away with a hold that prevents the Michigan transfer from blowing all this up. 

Notice 50-Turner’s set-up in the replay. See how he’s tilted 55-60 degrees? Weird, huh? Well, that’s not an accident. Turner is “cocked” at the nose because Rutgers runs a Stunt 4-3 defense – the same defense the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers popularized en route to winning four Super Bowls.  The seldom-seen defensive system often asks undersized DEs – which Rutgers definitely has – to stunt while the linebackers replace the gaps they leave empty. But the whole concept starts with Turner. His remedial but vital job is to quickly jab at the center and clog the middle.

Therefore, the Menet vs. Turner battle became the “Game within the Game” Saturday – especially since Penn State leans sooo heavily on inside zone.    

Sometimes, Turner got the best of Menet:

But more often that not, Menet (and friends) moved the 260-pound bowling ball off platform with relative ease, like so:

Here’s another example, this time with a little help from Fries. Please excuse Matt Millen scribbling like a meathea…wait, how should I say this…scribbling like a non-scribbler guy…over the replay. 

To finish off the Menet lovefest, let us show you an A+ job of picking up the weakside A-Gap run blitzer 3-Fatukasi (told you he’s glad Penn State isn’t back on the schedule for another 11 months) and tossing him like a bag of fertilizer into the strongside B-Gap – a BOGO block for Menet as Fatukasi knocks into 6-Battle. 

QUARTERBACK PLAY

Maybe it’s just us, but didn’t it seem like Clifford threw better balls when it was raining, the clouds covered the sun, and the wind  — which reached 26 mph on Olivia Dekker’s wind measuring phone app (BTW, there’s no way that thing is legit. Like, what’s measuring the wind speed? The speaker holes? The camera lens? The unfixed cracks in my screen? Get outta here with that phony science, BIG TECH) — howled in his face?

*No Throwaways/Batted Balls/Spikes, this week. No passes negated by Penalties, Either.

I mean, check out this laser into the (checks phone) strong–ish wind:  

A couple prisoners of the moment dubbed this Clifford’s best throw of the season on Twitter. I wouldn’t go THAT far – some of his on-target, off-balance throws vs. Indiana contained an insanely high Degree of Difficulty – but this was a damn good throw. For starters, the velocity jumps off the screen. Second, and more impressive, notice when Clifford releases the ball, 3-Parker Washington hasn’t yet cleared Rutgers linebacker 8-Tyshon Fogg. So this is a precisely-timed anticipation throw, which is why it looks so damn smooth, and is a tangible byproduct of the intangible chemistry developing between Clifford and his fresh-faced receiver.   

More promising stuff from Clifford…he’s doing a much better job of keeping his eyes downfield when facing pressure in the pocket and/or running away from pressure outside of the pocket:

Example 1: 

Clifford’s heady choice to bluff like he’s taking off  — even though he was going to throw this ball, no matter what –is the reason 86-Brenton Strange gets open.  HINDSIGHT’s redheaded stepchild 3-Fatukasi is forced to abandon Strange and respect Clifford’s bluff, allowing the quick (but difficult) flip to the sideline for 10 yards and a first down. Clifford’s throw looks wobbly, but its location helps Strange keep his feet on the plastic green grass instead of the plastic white grass. 

Example 2:

Clifford wants to stay in the pocket, but that’s not wise once 79-Caedan Wallace is bullrushed back on his heels and enters Clifford’s personal space. So Clifford rolls to the right…but the Rutgers safety shadows him and does a textbook job “inside-outing” to maintain leverage. Clifford doesn’t flinch, though. He looks at 3-Washington in the slot and doesn’t like it. So his eyes venture out to 13-KeAndre Lambert Smith (KLS) who works free. Tougher-than-it-looks completion by Clifford. 

There was also a play where Clifford worked through his first and second progression before throwing to the third option, but I forgot to tell our editor to clip it. But trust me, it was really good and another sign of Clifford’s post-benching growth and development. (Checks clip chart one more time)No, wait…we did clip it! Here:

1.No. 2. No. 3. Yes, throw, get Strange killed, but whatever – 4 yards. It’s not a quick QB progression, but it’s a complete right to left progression read, nonetheless. And after looking unfixable Weeks 1-4, Clifford is at least patching up the multiple problem areas of his game. But, still, he’s got to be allowed the freedom to make occasional mistakes so that’s he’s confident enough to take chances – the type of chances that win football games vs. elite opponents. 

Which brings us to this clunker of a series:

Penn State ran those three uninspiring Will Levis runs AFTER Sean Clifford’s inaccurate-but-catchable slant to 85-Rudy Lutz bounced off the former walk-on’s hands for an interception. Why? Why bench Clifford? Did that turnover really warrant three runs and a punt? Yeah, these ultra-conservative in-game choices are good enough to get goon-it-up wins vs. Rutgers and Michigan’s JV squad, but it won’t be good enough to take us anyplace we haven’t already been as a program under James Franklin.

And if you’re going to use Levis, perhaps spice things up a little bit. IDK, maybe let him hand it off to the back…or, if you wanna get freaky AF, let him (GASP) throw the ball! Levis ran the ball 17 times vs. Rutgers. Levis played 17 plays vs. Rutgers. I believe that’s a trend. 

PASS CATCHING

Ugh, the drops are back. 

*Chart doesn’t include uncatchable passes (1)

Wet, windy conditions, yes, but THIS type of elementary stuff can’t happen in a Sharknado:

After making a slew of BTN Standout Brought to you by Auto-Owners Insurance catches vs. Indiana, Ohio State and the Levis-portion of the Nebraska tease, Penn State’s wide receivers seem to be regressing to the minimal preseason expectations we all had for this green unit.

Is this pass perfect? Well, no. But has Parker Washington caught 10+ passes more difficult than this one in 2020? Heck yes. Washington finished 0 for 2 in what we labeled “Tough/Contested Catches.” So did 5-Jahan Dotson:

Again, is this pass perfect? Not even close. Does the wind toy with it in the air? Appears that way. Is Dotson being held and tugged and impeded? Uh, yeah. Do the refs not throw a flag because they want to get the heck out of New Jersey ASAP? It’s the only explanation for no DPI. With all that said, Dotson should STILL make this catch. He’s made tougher plays. 

Feel guilty calling Washington and Dotson out, but I think even they’d admit Saturday wasn’t their finest three hours.