Behind Enemy Lines: Penn State

Nate Bauer: In the context of James Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, it’s by far the best showing they’ve had. I feel like a broken record at this point, but the simplified version of the story is just that the coaching staff made a conscious decision to take its own offense out of the game for the past two seasons. They had a solid defense that, if the offense could avoid shooting itself in the foot, could actually go out and win games. Considering their situation along the offensive line, scrambling just to get Big Ten bodies on the field, that they weren’t going to let the offense lose games for them - save for the rare opponent they felt confident in physically matching up with in the trenches - I’m not sure I can blame them for the route they chose.

The arguable strengths and experience of the team flipped in the offseason though. The defense lost nearly all of its game-changing line while the offense grew yet again in depth and talent at the skill positions and finally had an offensive line that, while far from great, could be at minimum competent against most Big Ten competition. Throw in Barkley and a mobile Trace McSorley at quarterback, and basically, that’s how the season has played out so far. Opponents are selling out to stop Barkley and want to pressure the line and McSorley and force the passing game to win, understanding the risks Penn State’s stable of receivers pose. A combination of the line, McSorley and the receivers all falling short of their goals through the first four games, it was an 80-yard, big-time touchdown for wideout Irvin Charles in the second half of the Minnesota matchup that turned that game’s deficit around, followed up by a relative offensive explosion against a Maryland team that couldn’t stop chunk plays on the ground or through the air.

I think it might be premature to try to say that the offense has turned the corner, but Joe Moorhead is good, there’s growing confidence throughout the offense, and those are really the trends you want to see for a still-young team as the season progresses. All that said, starting right tackle Andrew Nelson was lost for the season against Maryland to a knee injury. He’s the most experienced and talented kid on the line, so I’m interested to see how the entire unit responds in his absence. Each of the past two years have been a catastrophe of having to shuffle pieces along the line due to injury. If it starts up again, they could be in real trouble again.