The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State’s 30-23 loss to Nebraska
As strange as it sounds, Penn State may have turned a corner on Saturday.
Yes, the Nittany Lions’ 30-23 road loss to Nebraska still marks only the second 0-4 start in program history and first since 2001. And yes, the same problems plagued Penn State once again — the slow start and costly turnovers included. But the Nittany Lions fought to the finish this time.
Though it wasn’t enough, the building blocks are there for the team moving forward — especially if it sticks with redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis, who provided new energy after coming in for redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford early in the second quarter.
“We need to be a little bit more consistent in the details in the things that we’re doing,” head coach James Franklin said. “But I think (Levis) definitely gave us a spark and gives us something to build on for sure.”
Regardless of how much more life the Nittany Lions had down the stretch on Saturday, it was their early miscues that once again buried them in a hole too deep to climb out of.
That’s been one of the themes of this season for Penn State. And it must change quickly if it hopes to find any success at all in 2020.
“We can still end up with a winning record,” junior tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “We’ve gotta go out and we’ve gotta take what’s ours. We just can’t let ourselves get down in a hole like that and expect to come back and win the game.”
GOOD
Play of backup QB Will Levis: Clifford started the game by completely missing junior receiver Jahan Dotson — who was wide open — on Penn State’s first drive and instead throwing an interception that set up a Nebraska field goal. Then, he fumbled the ball on a sack in the early second quarter, and Cornhuskers safety Deontai Williams returned it for a touchdown to put the Nittany Lions in an early 21-point deficit. Franklin had seen enough.
Levis checked in with 11:29 to go until halftime, and the Penn State offense found new life.
The 6-foot-3, 222-pound quarterback took some time to get settled in, but he made smart decisions with the football overall. Levis finished the game 14-31 passing for 219 yards and added 61 rushing yards.
Even with just one career start under his belt (last season against Rutgers) heading into Saturday, Levis didn’t seem afraid of the moment. With a little over 10 minutes left in the contest, Levis spun out of the pocket after feeling pressure from his blind side, kept his eyes downfield and delivered a 74-yard bomb to Freiermuth. Sophomore running back Devyn Ford found the end zone on a 5-yard run two plays later, trimming the Nittany Lions’ deficit to seven points.
On Penn State’s final drive — with the game on the line — Levis completed five of his nine pass attempts to help the Nittany Lions march down to the Cornhuskers’ 13-yard line. Levis couldn’t get a clean pass off in time on 4th-and-goal to send it to overtime, but he was largely the reason Penn State had a chance late in the game.
Franklin wouldn’t name a starter after the game, but the choice seems fairly obvious. The Nittany Lions might’ve found their new starting quarterback for the rest of the season in Levis.
RB trio found its footing: Every week since Penn State’s season-opening loss to Indiana, Franklin has talked about the importance of getting the run game going.
For the first time this season, it happened with the Nittany Lions’ trio of running backs — Ford, freshman Caziah Holmes and freshman Keyvone Lee — all getting involved. Ford ran for 66 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, Holmes finished with 50 yards on four carries and Lee added 49 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
It was critical — especially with a new quarterback behind center — that Penn State’s running backs had success. They delivered. And as a result, it took pressure off of Levis.
On Levis’ first full drive at quarterback, the offense looked like it had stalled out when facing a 4th-and-1 from its own 34-yard line. But the Nittany Lions opted to go for it, and Holmes broke through the line of scrimmage for a 36-yard rush. The 5-foot-11, 209-pound Florida native put his team in field-goal range, and junior kicker Jake Pinegar eventually drilled a 40-yard attempt.
In the third quarter, it was Lee who had his breakout moment. Lee put Penn State on the board first after halftime after both the Nittany Lions and Cornhuskers came up empty on their first drives of the second half. With 7:51 left in the third quarter, Lee ran 31 yards up the middle and into the end zone to spark Penn State’s comeback effort.
And of course, it was Ford who scored the Nittany Lions’ final touchdown of the contest on a 5-yard run with 9:20 left in the game.
If the trio can build off this outing, Penn State could add an extra dimension to its offense that it desperately needs.
BAD
Defense giving up big plays: Penn State’s offense gets a bit of a pass with first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca forced to implement a new scheme in a wacky, pandemic-stricken offseason. But it’s hard to find excuses for how bad the Nittany Lions defense has been through four games.
The unit has consistently given up big plays, often leading to insurmountable deficits and putting a lot of early pressure on the offense.
On Saturday, Nebraska scored its second touchdown of the game off of a 45-yard jet sweep by receiver Zavier Betts to make the score 17-3 less than a minute into the second quarter. Betts raced to the end zone untouched on a play in which the Nittany Lions’ defense looked completely caught off guard.
And that’s just one example of the many times that the unit’s been gashed this season.
Against Ohio State, Penn State gave up a touchdown on a 49-yard reception. In last week’s loss to Maryland, all five of the Terrapins’ touchdowns came on plays of 34 yards or more.
After Saturday’s loss to the Cornhuskers, Franklin said the main thing holding his defense back was that it wasn’t tackling well enough and that fixing that issue has been a discussion from the beginning of the season. At times, though, the Nittany Lions’ defensive issues seem to be a product of effort rather than poor technique — and that may be a different problem altogether.
Questionable play-calling: Poor execution was what oftentimes led to Penn State leaving points on the board against Nebraska, but head-scratching play calls were also a factor.
On the Nittany Lions’ first drive of the second half — after being down 27-6 at halftime — the offense stalled out on the Cornhuskers’ 39-yard line. Instead of going for it on 4th-and-8, Penn State chose to attempt a 56-yard field goal. Junior kicker Jordan Stout’s kick came up short, and Nebraska cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt returned the ball to the Cornhuskers’ 34-yard line. For all the times the Nittany Lions have chosen to be aggressive and go for it on fourth down this season, the decision to not try to keep that drive going was a bit baffling.
Then, there were Penn State’s final two drives — both of which ended deep in the red zone without any points to show for it. The Nittany Lions ran a steady dose of fade passes that have consistently been ineffective on both drives. And the first of the two ended with a pass from Levis to freshman receiver Parker Washington that was broken up, and the second ended with the ball being knocked out of Levis’ hands and falling incomplete.
If Penn State’s decision-making in crucial moments doesn’t improve, expect the Nittany Lions to continue to miss out on capitalizing on opportunities to score.
UGLY
Turnovers: Franklin said turnovers were “the story” of the game after Saturday’s loss to Nebraska. While there was a laundry list of other issues for Penn State, Franklin’s certainly not wrong.
Clifford’s interception on the Nittany Lions’ first drive of the game was returned 55 yards by Taylor-Britt to Penn State’s 15-yard line. Though the Nittany Lions’ defense held its own near the goal line, the Cornhuskers still walked away from that possession with a field goal.
The scoop and score on Clifford’s second-quarter fumble also proved costly. It allowed Nebraska to take a 24-3 advantage with more than 11 minutes to play in the first half.
Penn State outgained Nebraska 501 to 298 in total yards of offense, but it didn’t matter. And a large reason for that is because of the points the Nittany Lions gave away with their own mistakes.
Through four games so far, Penn State has given up 33 points off of turnovers. The Nittany Lions have been outscored by a total of 37 points in those contests and two of those were losses by one possession. If Penn State could find a way to hold on to the football, it would prevent it from letting winnable games slip away.
When Levis was in at quarterback, he was more decisive with the football and made better decisions than Clifford.
While a little more than three quarters is a small sample size, making Levis the starting quarterback may help Penn State not give up the ball as often as it has through its first four games.
Another slow start: For whatever reason, Penn State has not looked ready to play out the gate in any of its first four contests.
The Nittany Lions had no answer for Nebraska quarterback Luke McCaffrey on the first drive of Saturday’s game. McCaffrey threw for 45 yards on that drive and ran for 24 more, including a 1-yard touchdown run that put the Cornhuskers on the board first.
There was also the Nebraska drive in the second quarter during which it scored on a 45-yard jet sweep from Betts. On that drive, it took the Cornhuskers just three plays and 49 seconds to find the end zone.
Combine those defensive lapses with the offense’s turnovers and it’s easy to see why the Nittany Lions found themselves in a 21-point hole by halftime.
Penn State has been outscored 93-26 in four first halves this season. When asked why he felt this was the case after Saturday’s game, Franklin attributed the problem to turnovers. The seventh-year head coach said it’s “hard to call” a game when he feels his team doesn’t have the confidence that it won’t turn the ball over.
Franklin also said he’s had conversations with defensive coordinator Brent Pry about the defense’s slow starts. He admitted that opening drives have been an issue over the past few years, but unlike in previous seasons, his current team hasn’t been able to overcome early deficits.
There could be several explanations for why the Nittany Lions haven’t appeared to be prepared from the opening kick in games. In all likelihood, it’s a combination of several factors — ones that Franklin and Co. will have to quickly get to the bottom of.
Red zone offense: Even with digging itself in an early hole, Penn State had plenty of chances to score and win Saturday’s contest. It just couldn’t capitalize on hardly any of them. Against the Cornhuskers, the Nittany Lions made six trips to the red zone but scored just one touchdown.
On their first trip to the red zone — which ended early in the second quarter — Clifford didn’t see redshirt freshman tight end Brenton Strange wide open in the right corner of the end zone on third down. Penn State had to settle for a 33-yard field goal.
In the second quarter, the Nittany Lions marched down to the Cornhuskers’ 8-yard line, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on redshirt junior offensive lineman C.J. Thorpe set them back 15 yards. And they settled for yet another field goal.
Throw in another field goal late in the fourth quarter and the two botched chances to tie the game at the end (from Nebraska’s 11- and 13-yard lines), and it’s not hard to pinpoint Penn State’s missed opportunities to win the game on Saturday.
The Nittany Lions have found several ways to lose so far this season. After an underwhelming performance at Nebraska, add red zone troubles to the list.
This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 5:52 PM.
