The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State’s 27-6 win against Rutgers
Will Levis’ memorable leap Saturday, where he hurdled a safety in the first quarter, first took shape during a film session Friday night.
The backup Penn State quarterback, who made his first career start in the 27-6 win against Rutgers, noticed how the Scarlet Knights’ safeties tended to tackle low, especially redshirt freshman Christian Izien. But, Levis told reporters, that didn’t mean he was expecting to hurdle a defender on game day.
“Kind of just the heat-of-the-moment thing,” Levis said. “Never done that before. I knew I had the athleticism to, so I just went with it.”
Late in the first quarter, on second-and-6, Levis sprinted straight up the middle. When he reached the secondary, Izien dove low — so Levis decided in that split-second to jump high in what’s since been coined the “Levis Leap,” which got him about an extra 5 yards.
That 14-yard run set up a 2-yard Journey Brown score three plays later. Overall, Levis finished with a team-high 108 rushing yards on 18 carries.
“That’s really cool. I mean, I’ve never had close to 100 yards in high school,” he said. “I think maybe the most was like 40 or something. There were just plays that needed me to run the ball, and I just did my job. ... It’s really special.”
Levis wasn’t perfect in his first career start, which he learned about after practice Tuesday night. He was inconsistent passing, throwing for just 81 yards, one touchdown and interception. But he was tough on the ground and still picked up the win.
And the victory was the main thing coach James Franklin wanted to see.
“This will be great tape for him to learn and grow from and I am really excited about him and his future,” Franklin added, “but we could have been a little bit cleaner with some things tonight.”
Good
RB Journey Brown’s inspired performance: Six days after the death of his “little cousin” — 17-year-old Paige Fabela — Brown wanted to play Saturday’s game for him. And Brown said afterward he felt like he made Paige proud; he rushed for 103 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.
Brown — OK, and Will Levis’ legs, too — provided the boost this offense needed. On all three of Brown’s touchdown drives, his number was called quite a bit. First touchdown? Nine plays, four touches by Brown, 28 yards. Second TD? Three plays, two Brown carries, 25 yards. Final score? Eight plays, five rushing attempts, 37 yards.
The redshirt sophomore running back has been on a tear lately, rushing for at least 100 yards in three of the last four games. His speed is obvious, but he’s also flashed power and shown the right mentality through it all.
Saturday was a tough day for Brown mentally. But he was the clear offensive MVP; he helped the Nittany Lions avoid the upset.
“In my 24 years, I don’t think I’ve been around a kid who has overcome more adversity in his life than him,” head coach James Franklin said. “He had some more this past week. He’s a special, special kid.”
Fourth quarter: You can probably guess where the first three quarters (and five seconds) belong. (Spoiler alert: It ain’t in the “Good.”) But the final quarter? It’s hard to put that anywhere else than here. This is where the Nittany Lions won the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Penn State clung to a narrow 13-6 lead. But that’s when it finally — finally — woke up.
“They punched us in the mouth, and it kind of shocked us,” offensive lineman Steven Gonzalez acknowledged. “But, eventually, we settled down.”
Well, it sure took long enough. But on Penn State’s first offensive drive of the fourth quarter, QB Will Levis found wideout Jahan Dotson for a 44-yard touchdown on third-and-15. It wasn’t the prettiest play; the snap came in low and nearly resulted in a fumble, and Levis underthrew the ball. But Dotson was wide open and out-ran several defenders east-west to get those last 4 yards for the score.
The defense then forced a turnover on downs. Penn State scored again on the next possession, on an 8-play, 44-yard TD drive to increase the lead to 27-6. With about five minutes left in the game, the Nittany Lions then recovered the kickoff. For all intents and purposes, the game was over.
It was an “Ugly” game. But it was a “Good” final quarter.
TE Pat Freiermuth not entering the 2020 NFL draft: Shortly after the end of Saturday’s game, Freiermuth and Penn State released a written statement that explained the talented tight end was staying put next season.
Although Freiermuth is a true sophomore, he recently discovered he was eligible for the 2020 NFL draft because he did a year of post-grad before arriving in Happy Valley. He said earlier in November that no decision was yet made but, after Saturday’s regular-season finale, he decided he waited long enough.
He wanted to return for at least one more season.
“The brotherhood and family atmosphere in this program is something that I am not ready to leave,” he said in the statement, which also outlined Penn State’s culture and Freiermuth’s desire in getting his degree as reasons for staying put.
Freiermuth is one of the best tight ends in the nation, and his departure would’ve had a huge negative impact on this offense moving forward — especially if redshirt sophomore KJ Hamler ends up declaring early for the draft. Freiermuth’s announcement Saturday was maybe the best win Penn State had over the weekend.
Blake Gillikin and his 72-yard punt: On Senior Day, the four-year starter couldn’t have asked for much more. “I’ll probably remember this game for the rest of my life,” he told reporters.
Gillikin punted four times Saturday, and each punt was a good one. But the one that fans will remember — yes, a memorable punt — is the one that traveled 72 yards Saturday, the second-longest punt by a Nittany Lion in Beaver Stadium.
In the second quarter, Gillikin was prepared to punt after a three-and-out from his own 25-yard line. Gillikin booted the punt so far that returner Avery Young tried back-pedaling, but it was too far over his head. It bounced, and Gillikin’s teammates downed it at the 3-yard line.
Gillikin’s other punts weren’t record-breaking, but they did the trick. His first went just 30 yards, but that’s all he needed — it was fair-caught at the Rutgers’ 11. His second punt went 46 yards and was returned for 1 yard, and his final punt was fair-caught after 49 yards.
“To go out like that in Beaver Stadium, you can’t really ask for anything else,” Gillikin said.
Bad
Offense/gameplan: Yes, starting QB Sean Clifford was in street clothes Saturday with an injury and was not available to play. But Rutgers — and this cannot be emphasized enough — has one of the worst defenses in the country.
Rutgers was allowing more than 433 yards per game; Penn State finished with 333 yards. Rutgers allowed 41 points per Big Ten game before Saturday; Penn State scored just 27.
Backup quarterback or not, the No. 10 Nittany Lions should’ve blown out the Scarlet Knights. Instead, the offense struggled — against one of the worst teams it’s faced all season.
Levis finished 8-of-14 passing for 81 yards, one touchdown and one interception. It was the only time this season Rutgers allowed less than 120 passing yards. That means Penn State passed for fewer yards against RU than the following opponents: UMass (121 yards), Boston College (159), Illinois (120) and Liberty (282).
Offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne tried some different things, such as three-tight end sets. But they just didn’t work. Penn State focused on running the ball, but many of Levis’ 108 rushing yards came on a 49-yard scamper. The fact that Penn State scored just two touchdowns in the first three quarters was as surprising as it was embarrassing.
The offense was ineffective and inconsistent. The Nittany Lions were 3-of-10 on third downs, and the passing was unimaginative. WR KJ Hamler was targeted on eight of the 12 passes that had clear intended receivers. It was “Bad” all the way around.
Defending Rutgers RB Isaih Pacheco: The defense may have allowed just six points, but even it can’t escape the “Bad” here. Outside of Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins — one of the nation’s top backs — Penn State hadn’t allowed a single 100-yard rusher this season.
Well, until Rutgers, that is.
Dobbins rushed 36 times for 157 yards. Pacheco needed just 18 carries Saturday to get 102 yards. It was an unusual sight, considering Rutgers didn’t exactly have the offensive firepower to keep Penn State guessing. QB Johnny Langan has never passed for more than 200 yards, and four times this season he hadn’t even passed for 100.
But Penn State didn’t have an answer for Pacheco, who surpassed 100 yards on just two other occasions this season — against UMass and Liberty. And here’s the kicker: Pachecho averaged 5.6 yards per carry against Liberty; he averaged 5.7 yards per carry against Penn State.
It was Pachecho’s second-highest average this season. His highest (7.8 ypc) came in Week 1 against UMass.
“We were able to move the ball,” Rutgers interim coach Nunzio Campanile said, “but not really come away with enough points.”
Penn State didn’t look ready to play Saturday, and this was simply Exhibit F.
Ugly
First 45:05 of the game: What. The. Heck.
Rutgers has lost 21 straight Big Ten games. It’s been outscored 355-51 in conference games this season. It was arguably one of the worst Big Ten teams of all-time. And, yet, the Scarlet Knights hung with the No. 10 team in the nation until the final quarter. Penn State nursed a 13-6 lead at the 45:05 mark of the game.
That’s inexcusable.
Blame the coaching staff for not preparing this team better. Blame the gameplan. Blame the execution, the senior leadership, the offense. There’s plenty of blame to go around. And this might come back to haunt the Nittany Lions; Penn State lost voting points in Sunday’s AP Poll, meaning the College Football Playoff committee could follow suit.
If the Nittany Lions don’t make a New Year’s Six bowl, odds are Saturday’s performance against Rutgers could be one of the reasons why. This team sleep-walked through three quarters.
Penn State’s offense managed just 24 total yards in the second quarter. It was outgained 243-129 at halftime. (And 314-216 after the third quarter). Sure, it was missing some of its best players — such as QB Sean Clifford, DE Yetur Gross-Matos and CB Tariq Castro Fields — but Rutgers was without starters QB Artur Sitkowski, RB Rahaeem Blackshear and TE Daevon Robinson, who are all in the transfer portal.
The talent gap here is incredible. Rutgers’ highest-ranked prospect in the last class was three-star running back Aaron Young, whom 247 Sports listed as the nation’s No. 617 overall prospect. Penn State’s last class had 20 recruits ranked better than that; five were in the top 100.
This game should’ve been over after 20 minutes. Instead, the Nittany Lions turned in arguably their worst performance of the season. For a little over three quarters, there was nothing inspiring here. Penn State played like a team who already thought the regular season was over.
“I get that,” James Franklin said, when asked how he balances people asking why he didn’t beat Rutgers worse. “What I would also say is that every single one of you guys could probably look up 25 games this year that people were supposed to do something and lost. You could pick up another 25 games of people that had a tough game against an opponent, tougher than it was supposed to be.”
Penn State was a 40-point favorite. It led by a single touchdown after 45:05. There are no good excuses for that. It was an “Ugly” performance. Maybe the ugliest of the year.
