Following Penn State’s 28-3 win against Rutgers on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, reaction has been mixed regarding the Nittany Lions and their future for the remaining nine games of the 2015 season.
Losing to Temple, followed by a plodding, rainy win against Buffalo and a breakout night for Saquon Barkley and the Lions’ running backs against a dysfunctional Rutgers program, a consensus takeaway seems to be missing.
What has happened to Christian Hackenberg, quarterback of a passing offense currently ranked No. 118 in FBS? Is he not playing to a standard Penn State fans have come to expect, or has the game plan changed to win games?
Are the offensive linemen who went from allowing an NCAA-most 10 sacks in the first game, then zero in the past two, getting better or are the Nittany Lions’ opponents getting worse?
Is a defense that checks in at No. 23 in total yards allowed the real deal, or will more competent offenses be able to expose areas of youth?
Meeting with the media Tuesday afternoon for the first time since the Lions’ win, Penn State head coach James Franklin offered as many answers as he could. Namely, that a fair evaluation of where individual players and the program as a whole are right now will generally include a little bit of everything.
Let’s take a look at some of the topics he tackled in-depth on Tuesday afternoon, here:
1) The offense
I already touched on this topic pretty heavily earlier Tuesday afternoon. But I’m going to break it down succinctly here using Franklin’s quotes.
Point blank, they are running the ball to keep defenses honest, because defenses are giving them the run, because the offensive line is more successful creating running lanes than it is in pass protection, because the weather has been bad the past couple of weeks, because quick passes are keeping the quarterback alive, and because they’re winning with it.
All that said, they don’t want the offense to look like this and be so unbalanced.
“Just like everybody else does, we want to get back to the point where we're balanced and we're able to rush for a number of yards and have success running the ball, but we're also able to threaten the people with our wide receivers and our passing game because we've got some talented guys there,” Franklin said. “We're moving the pocket, we're doing quick gains. We're not taking a whole lot of shots down the field where we have to hold on to the ball for a long period of time.
“It's what I've been mentioning the past couple weeks, it's going to evolve. We've shown that we've been able to do those things in the past. We've got the wide receivers to do it, we've got the tight ends to do it. It's going to be a gradual thing that we're going to allow it to grow overtime. We've shown it in our past. We have the confidence that we can do it.
Wanting to win more than he wants to see an offense produce gaudy stats, the biggest takeaway here is that as the offensive line continues to make progress - which he says is still happening - Penn State is going to play a brand of football that might not be as sexy as fans want it to be.
2) Christian Hackenberg
Speaking of which, nothing about Penn State football could be less sexy looking right now than Christian Hackenberg’s stat line through the first three weeks.
Completing just 35 of 71 pass attempts (49.3 percent) for 372 yards with two interceptions and just one touchdown, Hackenberg has been the object of fascination (at best) and outright derision (at worst) by Penn State fans and media covering the program.
Franklin laid it out quite simply on Tuesday, though:
Hackenberg is taking one for the team. Plain and simple. And they’re winning for it. And they very much intend to accentuate what he does best as the season progresses if certain developments and evolutions come to fruition. But for now, he’s making the best of the hand that’s been dealt.
“I’m really proud of Christian and how he's handled everything. I think he's doing a great job,” Franklin said, crediting Hackenberg directly for checking the offense into certain plays that wound up being Penn State’s biggest runs and touchdowns on the evening.
Later, he implicitly acknowledged that, skill positions alone, the Nittany Lions have plenty of firepower. But with its current situation on the offensive line, none of it matters until improvement comes. “You come out and watch practice in our seven on sevens, we're able to do some exciting things. But the game of football is not 7 on 7. It's 11 on 11, so it will happen. It will happen. I'm actually really pleased with how we're playing as a team right now. I thought that game on Saturday was probably the most complete football game we've played since we've been here.”
Acknowledging some of the areas that Hackenberg could be better, specifically with his footwork (which Franklin noted Hackenberg has often been able to get away with due to his immense talent), Franklin continued to elaborate on the factors that have gone into some of the incompletions that have befuddled some onlookers.
“It's some protection issues we've had. Two of our three games have been in the rain and fairly significant rain in my opinion. There are some footwork issues that we've got to get cleaned up. We're moving the pocket and doing a lot of those other things as well,” Franklin said. “I think it's a combination. We've had a few drops. As you guys know, we've got to get foot work cleaned up. We've got to make sure we're protecting consistently. It's a combination of all those things.”
Later, in speaking about the tight ends and their apparent lack of involvement in the passing game, Franklin again lamented drops out of that unit. “I think if you look at the statistics, you'd like to be stronger. But you could also make the argument if you just based on targets and the opportunities they've had, we probably could easily have 300 yards more receiving at that position or maybe 200 yards more receiving at that position in big plays,” he said.
In other words, drops. Drops. Drops. Franklin is saying it outright. All of it matters and has helped contribute to what you’re seeing.
3) Special teams
Penn State’s net punting is No. 81 in the country, punt returns are No. 56, and kickoff returns are No. 13 averaging 29 yards per attempt. All of which suggest a bit of a mixed bag statistically for Penn State’s special teams.
Franklin talked at length though about how he considers special teams the area that has made the most improvement from last year to now. He credits the fact that now second and third teamers are better than they’d been in the past, and it’s starting to manifest itself.
“Last year was an issue and was a concern for us. But now you're seeing all these young guys,” Franklin said. “This was an area we talked about in the off-season that we felt like we could make the biggest improvement on. Charles went and visited a number of different places all over the country, from the Saints to the Steelers, to all over the place.
“There is a special teams clinic where a bunch of college coaches get together every year. He went to that. We brought people in to meet with us as well. So I think the hard work that Charles has put in as well as our players committing to it, and just the more depth that we have right now is creating some opportunities.”
Losing to Temple, followed by a plodding, rainy win against Buffalo and a breakout night for Saquon Barkley and the Lions’ running backs against a dysfunctional Rutgers program, a consensus takeaway seems to be missing.
What has happened to Christian Hackenberg, quarterback of a passing offense currently ranked No. 118 in FBS? Is he not playing to a standard Penn State fans have come to expect, or has the game plan changed to win games?
Are the offensive linemen who went from allowing an NCAA-most 10 sacks in the first game, then zero in the past two, getting better or are the Nittany Lions’ opponents getting worse?
Is a defense that checks in at No. 23 in total yards allowed the real deal, or will more competent offenses be able to expose areas of youth?
Meeting with the media Tuesday afternoon for the first time since the Lions’ win, Penn State head coach James Franklin offered as many answers as he could. Namely, that a fair evaluation of where individual players and the program as a whole are right now will generally include a little bit of everything.
Let’s take a look at some of the topics he tackled in-depth on Tuesday afternoon, here:
1) The offense
I already touched on this topic pretty heavily earlier Tuesday afternoon. But I’m going to break it down succinctly here using Franklin’s quotes.
Point blank, they are running the ball to keep defenses honest, because defenses are giving them the run, because the offensive line is more successful creating running lanes than it is in pass protection, because the weather has been bad the past couple of weeks, because quick passes are keeping the quarterback alive, and because they’re winning with it.
All that said, they don’t want the offense to look like this and be so unbalanced.
“Just like everybody else does, we want to get back to the point where we're balanced and we're able to rush for a number of yards and have success running the ball, but we're also able to threaten the people with our wide receivers and our passing game because we've got some talented guys there,” Franklin said. “We're moving the pocket, we're doing quick gains. We're not taking a whole lot of shots down the field where we have to hold on to the ball for a long period of time.
“It's what I've been mentioning the past couple weeks, it's going to evolve. We've shown that we've been able to do those things in the past. We've got the wide receivers to do it, we've got the tight ends to do it. It's going to be a gradual thing that we're going to allow it to grow overtime. We've shown it in our past. We have the confidence that we can do it.
Wanting to win more than he wants to see an offense produce gaudy stats, the biggest takeaway here is that as the offensive line continues to make progress - which he says is still happening - Penn State is going to play a brand of football that might not be as sexy as fans want it to be.
2) Christian Hackenberg
Speaking of which, nothing about Penn State football could be less sexy looking right now than Christian Hackenberg’s stat line through the first three weeks.
Completing just 35 of 71 pass attempts (49.3 percent) for 372 yards with two interceptions and just one touchdown, Hackenberg has been the object of fascination (at best) and outright derision (at worst) by Penn State fans and media covering the program.
Franklin laid it out quite simply on Tuesday, though:
Hackenberg is taking one for the team. Plain and simple. And they’re winning for it. And they very much intend to accentuate what he does best as the season progresses if certain developments and evolutions come to fruition. But for now, he’s making the best of the hand that’s been dealt.
“I’m really proud of Christian and how he's handled everything. I think he's doing a great job,” Franklin said, crediting Hackenberg directly for checking the offense into certain plays that wound up being Penn State’s biggest runs and touchdowns on the evening.
Later, he implicitly acknowledged that, skill positions alone, the Nittany Lions have plenty of firepower. But with its current situation on the offensive line, none of it matters until improvement comes. “You come out and watch practice in our seven on sevens, we're able to do some exciting things. But the game of football is not 7 on 7. It's 11 on 11, so it will happen. It will happen. I'm actually really pleased with how we're playing as a team right now. I thought that game on Saturday was probably the most complete football game we've played since we've been here.”
Acknowledging some of the areas that Hackenberg could be better, specifically with his footwork (which Franklin noted Hackenberg has often been able to get away with due to his immense talent), Franklin continued to elaborate on the factors that have gone into some of the incompletions that have befuddled some onlookers.
“It's some protection issues we've had. Two of our three games have been in the rain and fairly significant rain in my opinion. There are some footwork issues that we've got to get cleaned up. We're moving the pocket and doing a lot of those other things as well,” Franklin said. “I think it's a combination. We've had a few drops. As you guys know, we've got to get foot work cleaned up. We've got to make sure we're protecting consistently. It's a combination of all those things.”
Later, in speaking about the tight ends and their apparent lack of involvement in the passing game, Franklin again lamented drops out of that unit. “I think if you look at the statistics, you'd like to be stronger. But you could also make the argument if you just based on targets and the opportunities they've had, we probably could easily have 300 yards more receiving at that position or maybe 200 yards more receiving at that position in big plays,” he said.
In other words, drops. Drops. Drops. Franklin is saying it outright. All of it matters and has helped contribute to what you’re seeing.
3) Special teams
Penn State’s net punting is No. 81 in the country, punt returns are No. 56, and kickoff returns are No. 13 averaging 29 yards per attempt. All of which suggest a bit of a mixed bag statistically for Penn State’s special teams.
Franklin talked at length though about how he considers special teams the area that has made the most improvement from last year to now. He credits the fact that now second and third teamers are better than they’d been in the past, and it’s starting to manifest itself.
“Last year was an issue and was a concern for us. But now you're seeing all these young guys,” Franklin said. “This was an area we talked about in the off-season that we felt like we could make the biggest improvement on. Charles went and visited a number of different places all over the country, from the Saints to the Steelers, to all over the place.
“There is a special teams clinic where a bunch of college coaches get together every year. He went to that. We brought people in to meet with us as well. So I think the hard work that Charles has put in as well as our players committing to it, and just the more depth that we have right now is creating some opportunities.”
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