Hindsight 2022: Penn State Offense vs. Ohio
A Couple of Young, True Freshmen ‘Nursery Lions’ Graced the Beaver Stadium Stage for the First Time and Wound Up Stealing The Show as the Vets Rest for an SEC Showdown.
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(Dino Babers postgame preacher voice)…Click link for context. Jokes are always funnier when you have to explain them first. Comedy 101.
THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED…the 2020 Chevy Equinox, outfitted with a 1.5-Liter Turbo Engine, EPA-estimated 39 MPG Highway Rating, and Low-Speed Forward Automatic Braking, was the baddest thing on the road!
(gathered crowd yells in approval)
THE LAST TIME IT HAPPENED…’WAP’ topped the charts, as a torn nation collectively came together to determine, once and for all, whether there were or whether there were not some W***** In This House?!?!
(Awkward, scattered, confused claps)
THE LAST TIME IN HAPPENED…gas was $2.10 a gallon, Baby Yoda dolls were on back order, Antonio Valentino was Antonio Shelton, musicians we’ve never heard of had their own personal combo meals on sale at McDonald’s, the Queen of England was a spry 94, and Sean Clifford was a senior.
(Silence…not even a cricket chirp)
It’s OK. I know, we were all rendered speechless when it finally happened. It’s been a minute. 937,400 minutes to be exact-ish. People, our long brief national team-specific nightmare annoyance is over! For the first time since November 28, 2020, a Penn State running back amassed 100 yards in a single game!
(confetti drops)
Behind the same hot-and-cold run blocking that’s become as much of a gameday tradition as drum major flips or deep-pocketed blue hairs complaining about the in-stadium speaker volume, Penn State freshman RB 10-Nick Singleton gobbled up 179 yards on the ground in just 10 carries. And wouldn’t you know it, bolstered by a rushing attack capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, Penn State’s previously-lopsided offense racked up 572 total yards – by far the most of the Mike Yurcich era – despite easing off the gas for the entire 4th quarter.
Balance is back in Happy Valley! (for now…no jinx)
Formations
Tossed a line out to our Twitter followers for a cool moniker to label Penn State’s T Formation short-yardage to-go play where 14-Sean Clifford gets squashed and rides the wave across the goal line. Not surprisingly, all the suggestions stunk (thanks a lot, guys) so we’re doing it ourselves.
This is DOGGY DOOR. Clifford The Dog + a tight, uncomfortable fit through a small space = DOGGY DOOR.
For the second time in as many weeks, this barbaric play call concluded with six points added to the good guys’ tally. Couple notes, though:
• Love the play. Don’t get us wrong. Takes advantage of a ridiculous loophole in the rulebook. All for it. However, we wish Yurcich would add the ‘check with me’ element from last year back in, even if it’s just a dummy signal, just to plant a small seed of doubt in defenses that this could be the off-tackle run Penn State featured on three occasions out of T in 2021.
• There’s gotta be an in-season evolution to this play, right? Yurcich is known for baiting one play and then switching to v. 2.0 of the same play. Remember, Yurcich waved his wand a couple times vs. Auburn in 2021 and fooled the Battle Tiger Eagles with some creative sleight of hand. So something is afoot here. But what?
The logical next phase of DOGGY DOOR would be some type of pop pass. But how would Clifford throw a pop pass to the tight end if he’s under center?
He wouldn’t…the back right behind him would.
Here’s our suggested wrinkle. Behold:
Have 86-Brenton Strange and 44-Tyler Warren flip positions. Snap the ball through Clifford’s legs to Warren (did you hear he was a QB in high school?!?! Oh you did? On every broadcast/podcast ever produced? Oh). Strange releases. Warren throws over the line. Profit.
And before you yell at us for tipping off the enemy to a play that probably isn’t even being considered inside the Lasch Building, relax…no one reads this stupid site.
Moving on…
On Saturday, Penn State trotted out this under-center compressed Tight Bunch formation and had a ton of success out of it. Feel free to comment if we’re wrong, but we can’t recall seeing this from Yurcich before.
Popularized by Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, Tight Bunch formations benefit offenses and befuddle defenses in a couple different ways. For starters, defenses obviously have to account for the additional run gaps created by the compressed set, which pulls in secondary players who aren’t used to being run-fitters. Having all these guys in tight quarters can cause collisions, too, resulting in vacant run lanes or uncovered receivers in the pass game thanks to legal, natural picks. Second, it gives all wide receivers legit two-way go’s – meaning they can run routes to the middle of the field or toward the sideline and do so with enough space to separate.
Penn State utilizes that extra space to perfection here:
The beauty of this play is that it provides Clifford passing options at three different levels: 86-Strange releasing underneath in case the run fake doesn’t fool Ohio and there’s a dude in Clifford’s face when he turns around; 5-Mitchell Tinsley at intermediate depth; 44-Warren deep.
After seeing this formation twice before – both runs – the Bobcats bite hard on the play fake/run flow, affording Clifford time to survey his downfield choices.
Substitutions
When a 3-Star true freshman – Omari Evans (26) – out-snaps a three-year starter and All-Big Ten caliber WR – Parker Washington (25) – you know Saturday’s script unfolded the way James Franklin dreamed it would during his mid-week sleeps, especially with a sure-to-be mentally- and physically-taxing test on the horizon.
Of the 34 offensive players who stepped off the sidelines on Saturday, only 9 lined up for more than half of Penn State’s 77 total snaps. And other than 64-Hunter Nourzad’s scarier-looking-than-it-apparently-was ding (he returned to action a few series later), Penn State escaped without a significant scratch.
Three first-year offensive lineman popped their blocking cherries, as true freshmen 51-Drew Shelton and 71-Vega Ioane along with Lackawanna JUCO signee 55-JB Nelson manned the trenches for most of the 4th quarter. Starting center 70-Juice Scruggs passed the grass-stained baton to backup 53-Nick Dawkins for the final 20 plays from scrimmage.
Personally, we’re rooting for Nick to start next year if for no other reason than it gives us a chance conjure up ridiculously cool, wordcount-padding nicknames for his pancake blocks like his father did for slam dunks – The “Chocolate-Thunder-Flying-Robinize-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am Jam” being our personal favorite.
Let’s see, what else we got here…
Oh, WRs 7-Kaden Saunders, 82-Liam Clifford, 6-Harrison Wallace and 18-Omari Evans caught their first passes as collegians (more on Evans in the Pass Catchers section). Same goes for TE 16-Khalil Dinkins. Technically, 19-Jaden Dottin started at WR, which sounds like a big deal but probably isn’t. “Backup” PW3 received more targets (4) than Dottin (3). So did Wallace (7) for that matter. For those early-leavers already a beer-deep at their postgame tailgate, future transfer QB 11-Christian Veilleux closed out garbage time with a handful of simple but accurate throws, two landing in the hands of fellow polite Canadian 80-Malick Meiga.
Finally, some guys named Tyler Holzworth, Grayson Kline, and Oliver Klosov, can now pull out Saturday’s participation page four decades from now when their snotty grandkids don’t believe they actually played football for Penn State.
Actually, that last guy isn’t real. Or maybe he is somewhere in Eastern Europe…idk.
Just keeping you on your toes.
Run/Pass Blocking
Call it the FTB Film Study Curse – or call it something cleverer – but our track record of hyping up Penn State’s new additions over the years (be they players or coaches) has been disastrous, at best. Kirk Ciarrocca, offensive genius – nope. Mike Yurcich, offensive genius – TBD. Transfer Portal pickup RB John Lovett, explosive backfield threat – not even close. Parker Washington, PSU’s new WR 1 in 2022 – overlooked and underwhelming through two weeks.
But, we totally nailed our 74-Olu Fashanu evaluation. Coach Codutti called this kid a future NFL first-rounder and through 3 total college starts at left tackle, he’s well on his way. In 85 pass protection attempts this season, Fashanu tops the Big Ten with a 92.1 PFF grade and has not allowed a single QB pressure, nor committed a penalty as a starter dating back to last season’s Outback Bowl.
We’d show you clips of Fashanu doing his job, but, honestly, they’re fairly boring.
| PSU Pass Pro 2022 | Clean Pocket | Disturbed Pocket | % Clean Pocket |
| Purdue | 41 | 8 | 83.7% |
| Ohio | 39 | 9 | 81.3% |
As for the other tackle spot, well…
Starting RT 79-Caedan Wallace shook off the funk from a difficult debut at Purdue with a nice rebound performance as a pass blocker, shaving his QB hurries allowed down from 3 to 1, and sacks allowed from 1 to 0.
However, backup 72-Tyler Effner – the guy who plugged the leaky right side of the line late vs. Purdue – struggled, at times, keeping Clifford clean.
Effner oversets, permitting Ohio LB 32-Bryce Houston to dart inside, a weak left-hand punch from Effner his only resistance. The pressure forces Clifford to leave the pocket. If we’re looking to squeeze some lemonade from this rep of lemons, Effner did a good job of totally tackling Houston and not getting flagged for it. Otherwise, this was a mess on 4th down.
Can’t tell if Cornell transfer 64-Hunter Nourzad is still adjusting to the level-up of FBS football, or if he was playing hurt on Saturday (or both), but he struggled with strength and lateral movement on consecutive plays in the 3rd quarter.
Play 1: Nourzad loses leverage a millisecond after the snap, gets bounced backward, and absolutely “son’d” by Ohio DT 55-Rodney Matthews.
Play 2: Nourzad correctly passes off the Bobcats DE to 72-Effner but can’t react in time to reach the looping 32-Houston. The pressure prevents 15-Drew Allar from spotting his open third read running the dig.
Quarterbacks
If you want Allar analysis, watch this week’s FTB FILM STUDY.
If you want Christian Veilleux analysis, sorry, you’re SOL.
Clifford-centric this week. For procedure’s sake, here are the passing charts for the two backups. NOTE: I got ‘Heidi Game’d’ by my local ABC affiliate. They switched to the Pitt-Tennessee pillowfight with 3ish minutes left in the Penn State rout, so the Veilleux numbers are incomplete.
| Allar vs. Ohio | Accurate | Inaccurate | WILD/Off-Target |
| Easy Throw | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Moderate Throw | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Difficult Throw | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Veilleux vs. Ohio | Accurate | Inaccurate | WILD/Off-Target |
| Easy Throw | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Moderate Throw | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Difficult Throw | 0 | 0 | 0 |
And here’s Clifford’s…
| Clifford vs. Ohio | Accurate | Inaccurate | WILD/Off-Target |
| Easy Throw | 11 | 3 | 0 |
| Moderate Throw | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Difficult Throw | 2 | 0 | 0 |
*Does not include 2 Throwaways/Batted Balls. Does include plays negated by penalty.
Continue to be impressed with Clifford’s decision-making on RPO calls, especially multi-layered RPO calls like this three-pronged play to start the game.
Overly-excited Ohio LB 38-Keye Thompson crashes hard on the mesh. Then, Clifford baits two defenders to honor the QB run before flipping the ball wide to 19-Jaden Dottin. Plus-block by 5-Tinsley. Little disappointed Dottin allowed himself to be easily escorted out of bounds instead of cutting back inside. Felt like he left 5+ yards on the bone here.
Continue to be impressed with Clifford’s growth in the pocket, specifically his newfound ability to work through multiple progressions and keep his eyes up when pass rushers push closer.
And yet, we’re still getting crud like this, which is infuriating.
The hope is that the Ohio LB and CB bite hard on the pump to 1-KLS, allowing 86-Strange to slip through unguarded on the wheel. If you remember, Clifford successful pulled off this same route concept late vs. Iowa in 2020 when he relieved short-lived starting QB Will Levis. Not this time, though. Strange is covered.
So, Clifford snaps his head back to the middle of the field. Protection is ideal. Can’t really see what route 5-Tinsley is running, but he’s definitely open by at least a step. Clifford spots that and fires…off his back foot, falling away even though no one’s in his face. Lazy mechanics cause the ball to hang long enough for 5-Tinsley’s step of separation to be erased. Couple plays later, Jake Pinegar misses a kick, and Clifford’s 4th and final home debut as a starter ends with a Price Is Right womp-womp losing horn.
Pass Catchers
Borrowed my brother’s COSTCO card to purchase this week’s family-sized Pass Catchers Table. Careful…don’t scroll down too quickly, or else this beast might topple over.
| Week 2: Ohio | Routine | Tough/Contested | Incredible |
| 6-Wallace | 4/4 | 0/3 | |
| 5-Tinsley | 2/2 | 1/2 | |
| 3-Washington | 1/1 | 3/3 | |
| 19-Dottin | 2/2 | 0/1 | |
| 44-Warren | 1/1 | ||
| 1-KLS | 1/1 | 1/1 | |
| 28-Ford | 1/1 | 1/1 | |
| 24-Lee | 1/1 | ||
| 13-Allen | 1/1 | ||
| 10-Singleton | 0/1 | ||
| 86-Strange | 1/1 | ||
| 18-Evans | 2/2 | ||
| 7-Saunders | 1/1 | 1/1 | |
| 16-Dinkins | 1/1 | 0/1 | |
| 82-Clifford | 1/1 | ||
| 80-Meiga | 1/1 | 1/1 | |
| 38-Smith | 1/1 |
*Does not include 4 Uncatchable passes. Does include plays negated by penalty.
Of all the names listed in this pass-catching gaggle, late 2022 3-star commit Omari Evans generated the most buzz Saturday, thanks largely to his crisp corner-post route on Allar’s initial touchdown toss. An accomplished high school track athlete, Evans’ ability to pop the top off defenses with his straight-line speed is an attribute in short supply within Penn State deep and talented receivers room. So there’s definitely a role for the off-the-radar freshman…but it’s a limited role and will remain limited until Evans physically matures.
The downside to Mike Yurcich’s up-tempo, substitution-free philosophy is that square pegs occasionally get forced to do round-hole things. We saw it a bunch last year when Penn State ripped off a successful run or screen out of TRIDENT – what we call Yurcich’s 3-TE packages – and then went fast and stuck the slow-footed 44-Warren, 86-Strange, and 84-Theo Johnson trio in a wide-split Trips formation that scared no one in the opposing secondary.
On Saturday, similar fish-out-of-water, up-tempo situations caught the slender, 170-pound, blocking-allergic Evans off guard, as well.
Finally, just wanted to show off 3-Washington’s TD-that-wasn’t since the replay booth’s baseless reversal of the correct call on the field ruined a spectacular play that was even more spectacular when we watched it again.
In real-time, we didn’t realize how tough of a catch this was. Washington plucks this ball in an awkward position, gathers himself, presses B on the Xbox controller, breaks another tackle, and accelerates right by two other defenders all while staying a few blades of grass away from touching the white paint.
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