The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State’s 23-7 win over Rutgers
After Penn State dominated Rutgers on the road Saturday 23-7 to mark its second consecutive victory since starting the season 0-5, the Nittany Lions appear to be finding their identity.
Penn State had a 17-point lead at halftime — its largest halftime lead of the season — and looked in complete control for the entire afternoon. Using the run game, the Nittany Lions controlled the time of possession battle and wore down the Scarlet Knights defense.
“It’s smash-mouth football,” sophomore running back Devyn Ford said. “It’s get downhill. It’s run the ball down these people’s throats and take their will away — that’s what it is. Hopefully we can keep doing that and obviously open up the passing game, too.”
Though it may be tough to digest for head coach James Franklin that his team opened 2020 with the worst start in program history, he and his players know they can’t change what happened in the past. Instead, they’re looking forward, while enjoying the present.
“Most importantly, we’re 1-0 this week — on the road,” Franklin said. “We’re gonna enjoy this trip back to Happy Valley.”
GOOD
Running game: For the second consecutive week, Penn State rushed for over 240 yards in a game. And, sure enough, it led to the Nittany Lions’ second win of the season.
Freshman running back Keyvone Lee once again led the way on the ground with 95 yards on 17 carries. Ford added 65 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. And redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis — who saw his role increase significantly against Rutgers — chipped in 65 yards on 17 carries. The Nittany Lions finished the afternoon with a total of 248 rushing yards.
Ford — who started on Saturday — played in a full game for the first time since Week 4 against Nebraska. He exited early in Penn State’s Week 5 matchup against Iowa because of an injury and missed last week’s win over Michigan because of the death of his brother.
The rain and wind in Piscataway, New Jersey, on Saturday likely played a factor in the team’s offensive scheme, but the Nittany Lions ran a total of 57 times and threw only 22 times. The strategy helped control time of possession (36:10 for Penn State, compared to 23:13 for Rutgers) and allowed drives to stay alive.
Rutgers ranks No. 88 in run defense — allowing an average of 185 yards on the ground per game — so running all over the Scarlet Knights isn’t exactly a huge accomplishment. But, showcasing a run game that is physical and wears down opponents two weeks in a row is an optimistic sign for a team that appears to be finding an offensive identity.
O-line play: Of course, Penn State’s running game couldn’t have shone the way it did without the play of the offensive line.
At times, the holes that the Nittany Lions’ running backs were running through were huge. One particular instance that comes to mind is when Penn State started a drive on its own 2-yard line with a 13-point lead and 12:12 to go in the contest. On the second play of that series, Lee took a handoff and ran right through an opening in the line of scrimmage for a 31-yard gain.
Penn State ran the ball nine consecutive times on that drive — with Lee, Levis and redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford — before it attempted a pass from the Scarlet Knights’ 9-yard line. Though they ended up settling for a 27-yard field goal, the Nittany Lions chewed up nearly five minutes of clock and extended their lead to 16 points with 7:27 left in the game.
The offensive line also gave Clifford plenty of time to throw. Even with getting sacked twice, the 6-foot-2, 217-pound Ohio native wasn’t pressured often on Saturday.
On his lone touchdown pass of the afternoon, Clifford dropped back and had ample time to make a decision before he hit freshman receiver Parker Washington for a 29-yard touchdown to put Penn State up 7-0 near the end of the first quarter.
Over the past two weeks, Penn State has given up just three sacks. That’s a major improvement for a team that had given up 20 sacks through its first five games.
All-around defensive performance: After the game, Franklin said his defense was starting to look as dominant as it had during his past six seasons as head coach. It’s hard to argue with Franklin after the type of performance the unit had against Rutgers.
Penn State held Rutgers to 205 total yards of offense and 12 first downs. The Scarlet Knights averaged just 2.6 yards on the ground on 32 attempts for 83 rushing yards, and they completed just 18 of their 32 pass attempts (56.3 completion percentage) for 122 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Rutgers didn’t score until there was 4:56 left in the third quarter. And even that touchdown came after Clifford’s interception gave the Scarlet Knights the ball at the Nittany Lions’ 36-yard line. Coming into Saturday’s contest, Rutgers had scored at least 20 points in all six of its previous games, which makes it even more impressive that Penn State held the group to only one touchdown.
The Nittany Lions also forced the Scarlet Knights to fumble. On Rutgers’ second play of the second half, quarterback Noah Vedral scrambled up the middle for four yards before redshirt junior linebacker Ellis Brooks stripped the ball loose and junior linebacker Jesse Luketa pounced on it for the takeaway. Penn State turned the turnover into a 47-yard field goal on its next drive to take a 20-0 lead.
If Penn State’s defense can continue to look like the unit that was expected to be the team’s foundation before the season began, the Nittany Lions could close out their season on a high note.
BAD
Predictability of play-calling: Levis took snaps more early and more often than expected on Saturday against Rutgers.
Instead of just being used in short-yardage third- and fourth-down situations, Levis was inserted into the game early in drives. But the 6-foot-3, 222-pound Connecticut native didn’t attempt a single pass. He tied for the team-high in rushing attempts with 17 to run for 65 yards — an average of 3.8 yards per carry.
So, every time that Levis checked into the contest, it was fairly obvious that a quarterback draw was coming. On Penn State’s third offensive drive of the game, Levis ran three consecutive times for 28 yards before Clifford even attempted a pass. And midway through the third quarter, Levis ran three consecutive times again before the Nittany Lions went three-and-out.
Franklin admitted after the contest that he and his staff have “gotta mix some passes in” when Levis is in the game to make sure that opponents respect Levis’ passing threat.
So far this season, Levis has run 58 times for 156 yards, while only throwing 27 times for 325 yards.
Though the strategy to use Levis strictly as a bulldozing runner was effective against Rutgers, it may not be versus more formidable opponents moving forward — especially if everyone watching knows what’s coming when No. 7 is behind center.
QB Sean Clifford’s third-quarter interception: There’s a good chance Penn State would’ve shutout Rutgers if it hadn’t been for Clifford’s interception.
With a little less than nine minutes left in the third quarter and the Nittany Lions leading 20-0, Clifford zipped a bullet to redshirt senior receiver Isaac Lutz. The pass — which was a little high — bounced off the fingertips of the 5-foot-11 Reading native and into the hands of Scarlet Knights defensive back Christian Izien.
The turnover gave Rutgers the ball at Penn State’s 36-yard line, and the Scarlet Knights took advantage by scoring their first touchdown of the contest with 4:56 to go until the fourth quarter.
Clifford played well enough for most of the game — and especially early, when he started the afternoon by completing eight of his 11 pass attempts in the first quarter.
During postgame interviews, Franklin said he thought Clifford “looked very comfortable” and “very confident managing the game” early on, but he needs the second-year starter to “do it consistently.”
After what had been a tumultuous start to his season (eight interceptions and two fumbles returned for touchdowns during the Nittany Lions’ 0-5 start), the redshirt junior has looked more calm and collected the last two weeks. Clifford had no turnovers last week against Michigan and just had one against Rutgers on Saturday.
But if Penn State wants to add a couple more wins to its 2020 record, it will need Clifford to take care of the football every week for all four quarters of games.
UGLY
Red zone offense: Once again, Penn State left points on the board on Saturday.
The Nittany Lions made three trips to the red zone against Rutgers, but walked away with only 13 points to show for it — scoring one touchdown and two field goals.
Nine consecutive run plays allowed Penn State to march down to Rutgers’ 12-yard line on its third offensive drive of the game. But after Washington dropped a pass from Clifford on 3rd-and-4, the Nittany Lions settled for a 30-yard field goal.
Then, midway through the fourth quarter, another pass from Clifford to Washington fell incomplete on 3rd-and-6 from Rutgers’ 9-yard line. And the Nittany Lions again had to kick a field goal.
Penn State is tied for 112th in the country out of 127 FBS teams with a red zone conversion rate of 71.4 percent. Out of its 28 trips to the red zone this season, the group has only scored 12 touchdowns and made eight field goals.
The missed opportunities to score weren’t super consequential against the Scarlet Knights because the Nittany Lions made sure the game was out of reach early, but leaving points on the board has cost Penn State time and time again this season.
If the Nittany Lions hope to change the narrative of their 2020 season by finishing strong and making a push for a potential bowl berth, they’ll have to clean up in this area sooner rather than later.
