You Can’t Go Home Again, But If You Try Sometimes, You’ll Get What You Need

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I will always look back with deepest fondness on Penn State’s 2005 Big Ten Championship season as a reclamation of something we perhaps all took for granted, coming, as it did, so unexpectedly on the heels of four losing seasons in five years that felt at the time like the inglorious end of the Paterno era. One personal memory from that fall, which has stuck with me for over 15 years, came during the afternoon before the #16 Lions’ legendary home upset of sixth-ranked Ohio State.

As I wandered through the soggy tailgate fields, drinking in the the sights and sounds of celebration undamped by the foggy drizzle, I caught sight of a young man – a student or recent grad, mostly likely – wearing a white hoodie that had clearly been frantically cranked out that week to seize on excitement around the team’s first national ranking in over two years. It bore a message that hit like a thunder clap: The distinctive Nittany Lion logo and, in classic block-collegiate font, “We’re Back.”

That’s it. Simple, beautiful, just like our uniforms. “We’re Back.” I will never forget seeing it, because we were, and we knew it. There was a lot of season left to go, but there was something in the air. It was a statement about the program’s return to national relevance, but also about the people who loved it, neatly summing up where we were physically and psychologically, back in our happy place.

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Introduction

Two weeks. Two quality wins.

Throughout the off-season plenty of Penn State pundits circled the Ball State sandwich date between Wisconsin and Auburn as a potential #TrapGame™. On paper, it was a valid concern. In 2020, the Cardinals went 7-1, won the MAC championship, and capped the season with a convincing bowl victory over shorthanded San Jose State. On top of that, Ball State returned 20 starters this season, 14 of which were “super seasons” as the FS1 announcers mentioned at least 10 times on Saturday. So, they had success and experience. But they didn’t have the talent, strength, speed, or coaching that Penn State had, which might explain why the Lions breezed by the Cardinals for their 300^th win in Beaver Stadium. It wasn’t a complete performance, but James Franklin’s bunch showed improvements in certain areas (run game) compared to last week and, most importantly, escaped without any major injuries. The Whiteout awaits Auburn next week but before we get into that, let’s dive into some B10/MACtion crossover excitement!

Quick Hitters

1. Jordan Stout update: On Saturday our do-everything kicker converted 8 of 9 PAT/FGs, punted 3 times for an average of 51.3 yards, which actually LOWERED his total for the season, and forced a touchback on every kickoff. I will accept NO more Jordan Stout hate.
2. For only the third time in his career, Sean Clifford completed at least 70 percent of his passes – the other two coming early in 2019 against Buffalo and Maryland. In fact, Clifford’s more-accurate-the-usual afternoon – 21 of 29, 72% completion — marks the 11^th time in the James Franklin Era that Penn State’s starting QB hit the 70 percent threshold. Lions are 11-0 in those games
3.  In our Mike Yurcich: QB Whisperer blog post back in August, I predicted the PSU QB stats for the year (all PSU QBs). I wrote they’d average 61% completions (currently 63%); 34 passes per game (currently 32); and 8.5 YPA (currently: 7.8). So, thus far, we’re in the ballpark! We also tabbed Penn State QBs to throw 0.6 INT/game (currently 0!!) and 2.25 TD/game (currently 1.5). It’d be nice to see the TD’s click up a bit but, overall, we are right on pace.
4. Sure, Eastern Michigan – those guardians of the gray turf – isn’t a powerhouse, but even against a weaker opponent Wisconsin’s defense once again proved they’re the real deal. The Badgers allowed a total of 92 yards and 7 points against the EMU Eagles (they should totally be the EMU Emus). Penn State’s struggled last week (especially in the first half) but I would bet a considerable sum of money that Wisconsin finishes with a top 10 defense nationally.

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Week One was a nail-biter. Week Two was a nail-filer.

Penn State wasted little time making a very good MAC team look like a very weak MAC team Saturday in front of the largest home-opener crowd in 13 years, finding the offensive firepower to match another dominant defensive performance in a 44-13 waxing of Ball State. The Nittany Lions out-gained the Cardinals 493-295, won the turnover battle 2-0 and didn’t allow a touchdown until the defensive starters had already called it a day midway through the fourth quarter.

For the second straight week, Sean Clifford had a clean game, completing a high percentage of his passes, none to the other team, and accounted for a pair of touchdowns. The run game, stymied last week by a savage Wisconsin front seven, put 43 yards on the stat sheet on the game’s opening drive and nearly 200 more over the next 55 minutes. Ten receivers caught at least one pass and four of them had at least one grab of 20-plus yards.

It was, in almost every way, the sort of afternoon coaches and fans dream about — pristine September weather, a fired-up and live-football-starved crowd of over 105,000, and a comfortable win that allowed the starters to build confidence and backups to get some well-deserved game reps. And it wasn’t against an FCS opponent, either; Ball State brought 18 starters back from a team that had gone 7-1 last year, including its first bowl victory, and had picked up a win in its first game last week as well.

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• Because Tulsa and Oklahoma State prolonged their in-state pillow fight past 3:30 p.m. with a string needless incomplete passes, FS1 joined the Penn State-Ball State broadcast seconds before kickoff, so those of us at home missed out on the pre-game Beaver Stadium ambiance, which sucked. But, for an out-of-conference, come-get-clobbered-for-a-fat-check schedule filler, the joint sounded louder than usual, didn’t it?

• Predictably, the unit Penn State fans chomped fingernails fretting over in the preseason – the Nittany Lions unproven defensive line – can’t be blocked, and the two offensive groups that were sure to be transcendent – the 5-deep RB corps and “the most talented tight end room in program history” – belong on the side of a milk carton.

• About those running backs…where’s the lightning to Noah Cain’s thunder? Yes, it was refreshing to finally see Keyvone Lee quit switching directions aimlessly like a vibrating electric football player with a faulty green base and rip off a handful of solid north-south runs after halftime. But spelling Cain with Lee, or Lee with Cain, feels like tossing away the Dasani and picking up an Aquafina. They’re redundant. What’s the deal with John Lovett? Where’s Caziah Holmes?

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 Don’t Worry, Mike Yurcich, the Sweet Smell of Victory Masks All

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FTB CHARTING – BOX SCORE

 Going on out a limb here, but if Penn State’s second-half offensive production sextuples (giggity) its first-half offensive production every single week from now until the end of the season…well…hmm…actually, they’ll still probably lose to Ohio State by two touchdowns.

But, hey, 11-1! Not bad, huh?

After making a rather off-putting 43-yard first impression in front of the Penn State faithful, new OC Mike Yurcich went in at halftime, figuratively picked parsley out of his front teeth, popped a couple quarters in the ‘Cologne At A Touch’ vending machine, sat back down and charmed us for the next 30 minutes with a smattering of successful deep shots coupled with a 34-yard outside zone bash that instantly made us forget about our ex, Kirk Ciarrocca.

Yeah, it’s early, but things are already getting pretty serious. Can’t help it. Those 254 second-half yards of offense vs. Wisconsin, enough to eek out a 16-10 heart-pounder on the road, has us feeling some type of way. Maybe he’s THE one. Maybe he’s not. Regardless, we’re moving fast…which is kind of what he’s known for.

And guess what? This weekend, we’re introducing Mike to 107,000 of our friends!

Hopefully, they like him.

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Introduction

Welcome back! The 2021 Penn State football season started out with a nerve-racking but overall successful road game against a tough Wisconsin team. Through 30 paint-drying minutes, Penn State’s offense ran 22 plays and racked up a whopping 43 yards. Then, for whatever reason, the script flipped after halftime. Penn State got in a rhythm, went up-tempo on the first drive, hit Dotson deep for six, and teased us with what could be in Mike Yurcich’s offensive system. Truly it was a tale of two halves. – the best of times, the worst of times, an age of foolishness, an age of wisdom…all in four quarters.

Quick Hitters

Before we get into the numbers and nerdy stuff, we’re adding this section featuring 3 stats from offense, defense, or special teams that dictated the outcome of the game. Here we go…

1. For all of the criticism that Jordan Stout will get this week for missing an extra point and a FG from extra-point distance, don’t overlook that he averaged 53.9 yards-per-punt on 7 punts against Wisconsin. Those hidden yards on special teams often times are the difference between victory and defeat, especially in a low-scoring donnybrook like what we saw on Saturday.
2. Penn State finished +3 in turnover margin on Saturday. Out of 89 games with James Franklin as the head coach, the Nittany Lions have been +3 or better in 9 games – all wins.
3. Two weeks ago, we wrote about Penn State’s Defensive Scoring Efficiency (points allowed per-drive. PPD for short) being far worse in 2020 than previous years. In 2020, the Lions allowed 2.3 Points Per Drive. Against Wisconsin, the defense allowed an incredible 0.78 PPD. The best Defensive Scoring Efficiency mark since 2009 belongs to the 2011 Alabama defense that allowed 0.62 PPP for the entire season. This Nittany Lion team (probably) won’t sustain this rate but, man, did they need every bit of that performance on Saturday.

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The offenses made it look like the first game of the season. Penn State’s offense had 2 (!!) rushing yards and 43 total yards at halftime, and minus-2 (!!) rushing yards through the first three quarters. Wisconsin’s offense turned the ball over three times in Penn State territory. The Nittany Lions missed a 23-yard field goal and an extra point; the Badgers had a 25-yard field-goal try blocked. The teams combined for 13 punts and 11 three-and-outs.

All of those numbers, and the utter lack of offensive rhythm by either preseason top-20 squad, however, also help tell another, perhaps more important story: The defenses did not look like they were playing in the first game of the season. And, in a mild upset, Penn State’s was the defense that carried the day in Saturday’s 16-10 win in Camp Randall.

Wisconsin returned eight starters from a defense that led the conference in yardage allowed and was third in points allowed (albeit in seven games) and, despite inside linebacker Leo Chenal being a late scratch after testing positive for COVID-19, the Badgers lived up to that standard, putting constant pressure on Sean Clifford and his offensive line with a mix of stunts and pressure from various angles and forcing Penn State’s running backs to work hard just to get back to the line of scrimmage.

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• Please excuse any typos. My fingers won’t stop shaking. And to our neighbors, sorry about the yelling.

• If this isn’t Brent Pry’s finest hour, it’s pretty damn close. Ohio State 2016? Iowa 2017 or 2019? Do those performances top this one? Even factoring in ‘prisoner of the moment’ syndrome, I don’t think they do. For 42 minutes, 51 seconds, Wisconsin’s well-fed maulers slugged Penn State’s defense right in the mouth and like some deranged masochist with cauliflower ear the Nittany Lions smiled and asked for more. I’m sure this exact stat will eventually leak out on Twitter, but until it does, I can’t imagine Wisconsin’s record in games in which they possessed the ball for 40-plus minutes isn’t undefeated….well, until today, obviously. From a technical standpoint, the two glaring issues that we highlighted ad nauseam throughout our 2020 Penn State defense Film Studies – fitting run gaps and communication breakdowns in the secondary – weren’t a problem today.

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