Sunday Column: Playmaking … or Played Out? Lions’ D Looks More Volatile Than Reliable Against MAC Offense

So, uh, 1-0?

Penn State put together all the ingredients for a feel-good Saturday after an occasionally sloppy but largely impressive opening win at West Virginia: a beautiful, sunny September afternoon, a MAC opponent they should handle without much difficulty, and a large home crowd full of fans who were ready to be optimistic about this team’s long-term chances, and perhaps drink a $12 beer or three.

Instead, the Nittany Lions learned some hard truths about themselves, the first and most significant being that the perceived easier path to the expanded playoff won’t matter much if they don’t figure some things out along that path the next few weeks, and the second being, for the first time in a while, that most of those things concerned the defense.

Bowling Green, which went 7-6 and scored a pedestrian 26.5 points per game last season under journeyman head coach Scot Loeffler, may go on to torch defenses of the MAC this autumn. Quarterback Connor Bazelak throws with touch and confidence, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. runs routes like a receiver and relishes contact, and running back Jaison Patterson hits holes quickly and decisively.

It’s probably a lot more likely, though, that the Falcons are another run-of-the-mill team from one of the weaker mid-major conferences in the country, and that a Penn State defense we were ready to once again crown as elite has more than a few cracks in it.

Yes, Tom Allen made some key adjustments in the second half, when Bowling Green mustered only three points and 82 total yards in six possessions, and yes, Bazelak wound up throwing as many picks (two) in the second half as he’d thrown touchdown passes in the first, but for two quarters, the Nittany Lions were essentially shredded via both the pass and the run by a group had a lot less talent. Poor tackling at all three levels was part of it, yes, but the pass rush was nonexistent (Bazelak was not sacked in 39 pass attempts) and receivers were running free against a secondary that is the strength of the unit, even if it had to play without stud safety KJ Winston for much of the game.

In an ironic/karmic/full circle twist that could be a taste of things to come this fall, the Penn State offense, which has been bailed out so many times by the defense over the years, kept the Lions in the game by racking up more than 9 yards per play in the first half, and then made enough plays of its own in the second half to secure the dub.

So, is it time to hit the panic button, which is never really that far out of reach for some Penn State fans but has mostly been pressed after watching the offense go three-and-out against a good team? Probably not. Allen has seen a thing or two over the years, and he found some ways to knock Bazelak—whom he had coached at Indiana—off his spot in the second half. And, just as there has been for most of the last few seasons, there is so much damned talent on this defense at practically every position that the Nittany Lions should give as good as they get most weeks.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t legit reasons for concern. James Franklin said after the game that he attributed some of the early defensive struggles to players trying to make plays rather than play within the defense. That makes sense, but also showed the contrast between what we saw Saturday in Beaver Stadium and for most of the last few years in Beaver Stadium when the opponent had the ball. Those defenses made plays—a lot of them, in fact—and this one should be expected, because of that talent and because of Allen’s schemes, to make its share of plays against an offense like Bowling Green’s. It did eventually, but not before allowing 24 points in the first half.

The other part of the problem is where the plays are coming from. Last week in Morgantown, Winston and Jaylen Reed made a lot of them, and Zakee Wheatley, the third safety on this team who would likely be the top safety for many programs, chipped in with a momentum-shifting pick on Saturday. We knew there would be playmakers at safety. But what about the front seven? Tony Rojas has flashed, but has also had several moments where a big hit has been followed by the ballcarrier lunging forward for a few more yards because he wasn’t wrapped up. Kobe King has been solid at the Mike but is not as dynamic as many of the players Penn State has seen there over the years. Abdul Carter had an impressive batted pass rep Saturday and seven tackles, but his adjustment to the new position has not made the impact many hoped it would, and no one else on the d-line has stepped up with any consistency through two games.

It would be prudent to give Allen and the other defensive coaches, and the players, of course, some time to adjust to the changes in both personnel and scheme on that side of the ball before we start making any proclamations one way or the other about the defense. On the other hand, with the noted exceptions of the time Michigan ran the ball 2,321 consecutive times last October or the aerial assault a shorthanded defense allowed to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, there has been a standard set by the Penn State defense the last few seasons, and this first half (against what is likely the worst or second-worst team on the schedule) did not come close to meeting that standard. That the second half did is enough to inspire hope about the future, and the return of explosive plays to the offense gives shape and depth to that hope; the Nittany Lions’ ceiling, on both sides of the ball, is still high.

Their defensive floor, though, might be a lot lower than many had expected or even feared. They have a few more weeks to bring it up before the offenses that won’t be so easily shut down after halftime arrive.