I'm going to keep this short and sweet, and you guys can have at it:
1) Dare I call last night complementary football?
Defense keeps everything in front of it and, though allowing some yardage, never really gave Rutgers anything legitimate offensively. Field position battle basically to Penn State's advantage throughout the night thanks to solid special teams. Offense finally showing some consistent ability to stay out of third-and-longs via the run game, keeps Hackenberg sack-free for the second week in a row, and the talent that is now in the backfield shines.
Like Franklin said afterward, no doubt there are things to clean up, but I think there was a familiar feel to last night's game in that the defense handled its business, and whereas the offense struggled to ever really get much going last season - relying on a big play here and there to spring wins (think Belton at Indiana) - you're starting to see what can happen when the offense is able to show some balance or, in last night's case, flat out maul a defensive front through the running game.
2) I'm totally on board with Franklin's game ball to Gulla. I'd add Big Toe to that list too, even though he didn't have any field goals. Both guys and the cover units were critical to keeping Rutgers buried.
Look at these starting field positions for Rutgers:
R02, R10, R25, R10, R25, R25, R15, R15, R41, R13, R01, R25, R35
Penn State is going to give itself a shot to win any game when the opponent's possession sheet looks like that.
3) Two interceptions for Penn State's secondary from Haley and Reid. I thought what Franklin said last night about the defense was pretty interesting in what it implied:
"I thought our defense once again played well, made them earn it. I thought we called a good game from that perspective instead of worrying about statistics. We played cover two and were able to stop the run and stop big plays."
By the time Rutgers actually got something going offensively and moved the ball 54 yards on seven plays in the third quarter - right when Penn State's offense was stalling a bit - the Reid interception and return were really big for swapping field position again even though Penn State didn't produce points off it.
4) Saquon Barkley is going to be fun to watch, and I'm especially interested to see its long-term effects on the offensive line and Christian Hackenberg. If he can do what he's been doing with holes that haven't always been great, I just think it becomes a game changer. They couldn't run the football under any circumstances last season and it crushed their souls. Here's a situation that could now be the opposite.
5) That the line hasn't given up a sack in back-to-back games is also interesting to me. I am still in the camp that thinks this is an extremely fragile psyche we're talking about for just about everyone involved on in the offense - QB, OL, OC, etc. - so when some adversity gets injected (it's going to happen sooner or later) how does that group respond? Can the recent success be enough to eliminate that constant precipice of falling apart?
1) Dare I call last night complementary football?
Defense keeps everything in front of it and, though allowing some yardage, never really gave Rutgers anything legitimate offensively. Field position battle basically to Penn State's advantage throughout the night thanks to solid special teams. Offense finally showing some consistent ability to stay out of third-and-longs via the run game, keeps Hackenberg sack-free for the second week in a row, and the talent that is now in the backfield shines.
Like Franklin said afterward, no doubt there are things to clean up, but I think there was a familiar feel to last night's game in that the defense handled its business, and whereas the offense struggled to ever really get much going last season - relying on a big play here and there to spring wins (think Belton at Indiana) - you're starting to see what can happen when the offense is able to show some balance or, in last night's case, flat out maul a defensive front through the running game.
2) I'm totally on board with Franklin's game ball to Gulla. I'd add Big Toe to that list too, even though he didn't have any field goals. Both guys and the cover units were critical to keeping Rutgers buried.
Look at these starting field positions for Rutgers:
R02, R10, R25, R10, R25, R25, R15, R15, R41, R13, R01, R25, R35
Penn State is going to give itself a shot to win any game when the opponent's possession sheet looks like that.
3) Two interceptions for Penn State's secondary from Haley and Reid. I thought what Franklin said last night about the defense was pretty interesting in what it implied:
"I thought our defense once again played well, made them earn it. I thought we called a good game from that perspective instead of worrying about statistics. We played cover two and were able to stop the run and stop big plays."
By the time Rutgers actually got something going offensively and moved the ball 54 yards on seven plays in the third quarter - right when Penn State's offense was stalling a bit - the Reid interception and return were really big for swapping field position again even though Penn State didn't produce points off it.
4) Saquon Barkley is going to be fun to watch, and I'm especially interested to see its long-term effects on the offensive line and Christian Hackenberg. If he can do what he's been doing with holes that haven't always been great, I just think it becomes a game changer. They couldn't run the football under any circumstances last season and it crushed their souls. Here's a situation that could now be the opposite.
5) That the line hasn't given up a sack in back-to-back games is also interesting to me. I am still in the camp that thinks this is an extremely fragile psyche we're talking about for just about everyone involved on in the offense - QB, OL, OC, etc. - so when some adversity gets injected (it's going to happen sooner or later) how does that group respond? Can the recent success be enough to eliminate that constant precipice of falling apart?
