Saquon Barkley had more rushing yards than Ohio State’s
Ezekiel Elliot (194 to 153). Christian Hackenberg had more passing yards than
Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett combined (120 to 114), given those numbers you
would assume Penn State kept it close with the Buckeyes. Hell, you might think
they even won, but you’d be wrong. Penn State lost 38-10. While watching the
game I scratched and shook my head because I couldn’t believe what was
happening. Penn State had 12 third-downs and converted one of them. Many times
it was 3rd and 2, 3rd and 3, 3rd and 5, but
yet they just couldn’t get the ball over the yellow line on my TV screen. It’s
not that we lost because let’s be honest, no one expected us too, it’s that the
play calling throughout the game never changed.
When your running back had the career night that
Barkley did having and your quarterback only has 12 pass attempts, 2 of them
being more than 10 yards, questions will be asked. Now I’m not a head coach but
I’ve watched a lot of football and know enough to know that when you’re
running game is going well, really well, you can usually open up the passing
game. You don’t have to throw a Hail Mary every time, but maybe a play action
here and there.
I said that Penn State couldn’t commit penalties, and they did.
Saquon Barkley had a touchdown called back because of a holding, six points off
the board. Tight end Mike Gesicki dropped a pass on the sidelines with no one
within ten yards of him. Would it have led to a score? Who knows but it would
have kept the drive going. It’s the little things that can add up to a big win
or a big loss.
Penn State’s defense did give up a lot of yards, 429 of
them, but they gave their offense some chances early in the game. The second
half was about Ohio State wearing down the unit, which they did with a mix of
J.T. Barrett, Braxton Miller, and Ezekiel Elliot. While you could guess which
play was coming next, they couldn’t be stopped. Carl Nassib did add to his sack
total, now bringing it to 11.5, it didn’t mean much in a 38-10 loss.
One of the differences in the game was Ohio State’s punter
Cameron Johnston who continuously would pin Penn State inside their on red zone
and the Nittany Lions couldn’t escape. It was a theme all night that would give
whoever was taking snaps for Ohio State a short field to work with making for
easy touchdowns.
I’m not one that is going to snap and say we should fire
James Franklin and his whole staff, we have to be more patient than that, but on
the other hand I’ve seen this type of stagnant offense before leading to our
defense having to do more than they’re asked. We all know that Christian
Hackenberg isn’t the right quarterback for Franklin’s system but when you have
a talent like Hack, someone that is looked at as a potential number one draft
pick, you need to use him as such.
The lone bright spot from Saturday night is that we saw just
how great Saquon Barkley is and great he is going to be. He’s the future of
Penn State football and while I’m sure the coaching staff knows they can’t burn
him out this early in his career they can’t lock him up either. If he can show that he’s
capable of carrying the ball 20 to 25 times a game, let him run free.
Penn State opens as an 8.5-point favorite against Maryland
next Saturday. I can only hope that this team plays angry and we see an
Illinois-like beat down that we saw in 2005 after an unfortunate loss to
Michigan.
Stay optimistic guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment