Sunday Column: Rare Big-Play Outburst Helps State Dump Sparty

James Franklin calls them “splash plays,” the tide-turning, highlight-reel plays that typically eat up big chunks of yardage and lead directly to points. Coming into Saturday’s game against Michigan State, Franklin’s Nittany Lions had been left, for the purposes of this analogy, all too dry all too often this fall.

Many of Penn State’s offensive woes stemmed from not being able to convert red-zone chances, but the Nittany Lions weren’t exactly piling up the touchdowns from outside the 20, either; through the first seven games, they had scored 12 touchdowns in the red zone and nine from outside of it. 

It was a combination of factors – Sean Clifford’s accuracy issues and spotty pass protection made it tough to connect on routes downfield. Young running backs and defenses packing the box made it tough to spring long runs. And, more recently, the offense’s shift to a grind-it-out-and-control-the-clock-and-move-the-chains-with-quarterback-runs approach that, while taking the pressure off Clifford, reducing the chance for turnovers and arguably giving the team the best chance to win, did not seem to be the best approach for producing splash plays, either.

Through the first 43 minutes on Saturday, Penn State had been mostly splashless, aside from a gorgeous opening-drive interception by Jaquan Brisker (who immediately fumbled the ball right back to the Spartans) and a 31-yard touchdown sprint up the middle by Clifford early in the second quarter. The Nittany Lions were grinding, grinding, grinding, and the 14-point halftime deficit seemed larger both because of the small-bite playcalling and because Michigan State’s offense had generated a pair of touchdowns with a pair of splash plays of its own.

But one of those grindy drives ended in a short touchdown toss from Clifford to Parker Washington, and the deficit was just six in the final minutes of the third quarter.

Then came the splashes.

A 36-yard connection from Will Levis to Jahan Dotson, which set up a short Levis scoring plunge. A 49-yard touchdown from Clifford to Washington – set up nicely by three quarters of passes thrown within a few yards of the line of scrimmage – and then an electric 81-yard punt return to the house by Dotson.

Those three plays produced 166 yards and two touchdowns on three touches for a team that had, before the Levis-Dotson connection, produced 341 yards and 10 points on a total of 54 offensive and return touches.

The tone of the game having completely changed, the defense thought the water looked inviting and splashed on in, recording a pair of sacks and allowing only three first downs on the Spartans’ final five possessions.

Ballgame.

And then, just as quickly as it had left, the grinding returned – Penn State closed out the game with 36 yards on 12 plays over the next two possessions. The Nittany Lions had the clock in mind, yes, but it only underscored the difference between what the offense had been for most of the game and the season and what it had been for those fleeting but fantastic moments.

The splashes were a reminder of what the Nittany Lions had been lacking all year. Splash plays help teams turn close games (see earlier games against Indiana and Nebraska) into comfortable victories or stay within striking distance against superior opponents (see Ohio State). They make opponents scheme against you differently or give you a little extra cushion at the line. In fairness, the players most likely to make the most and the biggest splashes for Penn State – Micah Parsons, Journey Brown, Pat Freiermuth, Noah Cain — were not available this season (add Jayson Oweh and Devyn Ford to that list Saturday) and Penn State’s coaches had to adjust their own schemes accordingly.

But there were still other splashy Nittany Lions available, as Dotson and Washington proved again on Saturday. That we didn’t see explosiveness like this from those players or others on a more consistent basis in 2020 is not as much a reflection on them as it is on the whole offense; skill players need blocking and correct quarterback reads and the right play calls to get into position to make those plays. Dotson needed at least one crease – and got a couple of them – to return his punt. Splash plays in any phase of the game are both a cause and an effect of a healthy football team.

That a flurry of those plays came late in a game that had little meaning to anyone who doesn’t believe in the awesome power of the Land Grant Trophy, in a stadium with not even the usual contingent of families in the stands, is a sign that Penn State not only continued to fight this season but also figured a few things out and showed some tangible improvement. They showed what a Kirk Ciarrocca offense might look like if it wasn’t scaled back, if it had some more experienced players and more consistent accuracy from the guys throwing the ball. They showed that the athleticism had been there all along, waiting for the moments when the big-play opportunities presented themselves.

For Penn State to get back to where it was before this season, let alone where it wants to be, contending for conference and national titles, the offense will need a sizable share of splash plays but also to be more consistent on the not-so-splashy plays – converting the third-and-twos, getting off the field on third down on defense, taking care of the football. Splash plays add excitement, make the players hungry for even more splash plays and serve as sharper recruiting tools than anything the coaches could say to any onlooking prospects between games.

They also make the margin for error a lot wider, and turn games like Saturday’s, which seemed headed for a different result for most of the afternoon, into games the Nittany Lions would rather remember than forget in a season that has had both.