This is the zombie talking point that refuses to die. "Penn State just chucks the ball deep and gets lucky."
If you listen to the last 5 minutes of this MGoBlog podcast, you get the full treatment.
http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/wtka 1-19-17.mp3
"Their explosiveness was flukish statistically....Penn State fluked it out....Got lucky against Ohio State with the punt block and blocked field goal ...Penn State just chucks the ball up to their receivers...Penn State is going to miss Godwin and needs to find another guy to threaten the defense.."
1) Against Ohio State, Penn State had a field goal blocked, fumbled a punt, and had a snap fly over the punters head for a safety....those weren't about bad luck I guess.
2) Besides Godwin, Saeed Blacknall has averaged 23 yards per catch in ’16 and 31 per in ’15. DeAndre Thompkins averaged 16.3 yards per catch in '16. Gesicki averaged 14.2 yards per catch from the tight end position.
Hamilton had a 54 yard catch. Gesicki had a 53 yard catch. Thompkins had a 70 yard catch. Blacknall had a 70 yard catch. Charles had an 80 yard catch.
The idea that Penn State will have no deep threat with Godwin gone is DUMB.
Look at what happened in the B1G Championship game for an illustration.
Penn State Receiving
REC YDS AVG TD LONG
Saeed Blacknall 6 155 25.8 2 70
DaeSean Hamilton 8 118 14.8 0 38
Mike Gesicki 3 58 19.3 1 33
Chris Godwin 3 33 11.0 0 14
Saquon Barkley 2 20 10.0 1 18
3) Penn State's offense wasn't about "getting lucky" by throwing the ball deep. Listen to Moorhead.
The Nittany Lion offense had 91 plays of 20 or more yards in 2016 – exactly seven per game, nearly two per quarter. (Interestingly, PSU had zero 20-plus plays in both the first and fourth quarters against USC in the Rose Bowl.) Compare that to 2014, when it had just half as many 20-plus plays (45), and to 2015, when it had only 56. The biggest change came in the passing game, as the Nittany Lions jumped from 36 passing plays of 20 yards or more in 2015 to 65 in 2016. And the average catch jumped from 13 yards in 2015 to a nation-leading 16.2 yards in 2016. Penn State threw less (only 42% of the time), but gained more.
That was by design, too.
“When we talked about the installation of this offense initially, we said it was predicated on running the ball successfully,” Moorhead said. “When you’re able to do that, it forces defenses to commit numbers to the box either by secondary support or by pressure. When you do that, you create one-on-one match-ups on the outside. I think we’ve shown the ability where if a team’s going to give us a favorable box to run the ball, we’ve been able to exploit it with Saquon (Barkley). And teams who are adamant about shutting him down and playing a heavy run defense, we’ve been able to throw the ball deep."
I think we had 7 four star receivers on the roster last year. We lose one of them. Speedster Brandon Polk returns from a medical redshirt. That is a big, fast, talented group. You want to play press man, load the safeties in the box, and have your smaller DB trail our WR....guess what is going to happen a great deal of the time? With an accurate QB and fast, talented wide receivers? That isn't luck, friendo. That is exploiting a matchup advantage when your defense is trying to take away the run.
With a deep, talented, and experienced offensive line next year, and teams having a year to look at film of PSU being able to throw the ball deep, PSU could see a very different look from defenses next year. Maybe they don't commit the same numbers to the box and dare PSU to run the ball.
Wonderful.
If you listen to the last 5 minutes of this MGoBlog podcast, you get the full treatment.
http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/wtka 1-19-17.mp3
"Their explosiveness was flukish statistically....Penn State fluked it out....Got lucky against Ohio State with the punt block and blocked field goal ...Penn State just chucks the ball up to their receivers...Penn State is going to miss Godwin and needs to find another guy to threaten the defense.."
1) Against Ohio State, Penn State had a field goal blocked, fumbled a punt, and had a snap fly over the punters head for a safety....those weren't about bad luck I guess.
2) Besides Godwin, Saeed Blacknall has averaged 23 yards per catch in ’16 and 31 per in ’15. DeAndre Thompkins averaged 16.3 yards per catch in '16. Gesicki averaged 14.2 yards per catch from the tight end position.
Hamilton had a 54 yard catch. Gesicki had a 53 yard catch. Thompkins had a 70 yard catch. Blacknall had a 70 yard catch. Charles had an 80 yard catch.
The idea that Penn State will have no deep threat with Godwin gone is DUMB.
Look at what happened in the B1G Championship game for an illustration.
REC YDS AVG TD LONG
Saeed Blacknall 6 155 25.8 2 70
DaeSean Hamilton 8 118 14.8 0 38
Mike Gesicki 3 58 19.3 1 33
Chris Godwin 3 33 11.0 0 14
Saquon Barkley 2 20 10.0 1 18
3) Penn State's offense wasn't about "getting lucky" by throwing the ball deep. Listen to Moorhead.
The Nittany Lion offense had 91 plays of 20 or more yards in 2016 – exactly seven per game, nearly two per quarter. (Interestingly, PSU had zero 20-plus plays in both the first and fourth quarters against USC in the Rose Bowl.) Compare that to 2014, when it had just half as many 20-plus plays (45), and to 2015, when it had only 56. The biggest change came in the passing game, as the Nittany Lions jumped from 36 passing plays of 20 yards or more in 2015 to 65 in 2016. And the average catch jumped from 13 yards in 2015 to a nation-leading 16.2 yards in 2016. Penn State threw less (only 42% of the time), but gained more.
That was by design, too.
“When we talked about the installation of this offense initially, we said it was predicated on running the ball successfully,” Moorhead said. “When you’re able to do that, it forces defenses to commit numbers to the box either by secondary support or by pressure. When you do that, you create one-on-one match-ups on the outside. I think we’ve shown the ability where if a team’s going to give us a favorable box to run the ball, we’ve been able to exploit it with Saquon (Barkley). And teams who are adamant about shutting him down and playing a heavy run defense, we’ve been able to throw the ball deep."
I think we had 7 four star receivers on the roster last year. We lose one of them. Speedster Brandon Polk returns from a medical redshirt. That is a big, fast, talented group. You want to play press man, load the safeties in the box, and have your smaller DB trail our WR....guess what is going to happen a great deal of the time? With an accurate QB and fast, talented wide receivers? That isn't luck, friendo. That is exploiting a matchup advantage when your defense is trying to take away the run.
With a deep, talented, and experienced offensive line next year, and teams having a year to look at film of PSU being able to throw the ball deep, PSU could see a very different look from defenses next year. Maybe they don't commit the same numbers to the box and dare PSU to run the ball.
Wonderful.
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