How Penn State football’s running backs established themselves in win over Rutgers
Saturday afternoon in Piscataway gave another glimpse into the future of Penn State’s offense under offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. The passing game was quick and easy for redshirt junior Sean Clifford, doing just enough to open the game for the real bright spot for the Nittany Lions — the running backs.
Freshman Keyvone Lee attacked the line of scrimmage with power and force to batter the Scarlet Knights into submission. Sophomore Devyn Ford fell comfortably into the change of pace role that fit him so well in the past, beating the Rutgers defense with his agility and speed.
Squint your eyes enough and you can see the outline of what the Penn State backfield was supposed to be with Journey Brown as a home run-hitting back with elite contact balance and speed and Noah Cain as a battering ram that can beat a defense down into submission.
Instead, the Nittany Lions are on their third- and fourth-string runners — one who was supposed to be a big-play threat and kick returner and another who came into the season without a competitive snap at the college level. However, they’re still finding success, with Ford and Lee quickly establishing themselves as important pieces in the backfield moving forward.
“A lot of good things to build on ... especially in the running game,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said after the win. “I thought we had a really good plan and feel for how we wanted to attack their defense. Then they made some adjustments and then we adjusted from there, as well.”
Lee established himself as a potential starter last week when he ran roughshod all over the Michigan Wolverines for 134 yards on 22 carries. That performance earned him more playing time this week, when he led the backfield in carries even as Ford returned after missing last week’s game due to a death in his family.
The freshman ran for 95 yards on 17 carries while Ford scored a touchdown and ran for 65 yards on 11 rushes.
The two running backs pair well together with their complementary running styles. Lee is a big, bruising runner who wears down defenses. Ford is a shiftier tailback who can make defenders miss in the open field and break off big plays. Together they’ve done well enough to give the Nittany Lions plenty of confidence moving forward this year, even without Brown and Cain. When Cain presumably returns next year, the Nittany Lions will have a trio that can carry the offense on its own — and at the very least balance it out.
“It’s super important (to run the ball),” Clifford said. “The best offenses are balanced. You can run the ball at will. You can pass the ball whenever you want ... I think that we just keep making strides.”
While balance is the goal for the Nittany Lions, the running game should be vital to the offense next season, especially with so much uncertainty encircling the team’s quarterback situation. Both Clifford and Will Levis saw the field plenty against Rutgers and neither did much to pull away from the other. Levis didn’t attempt a single pass, acting entirely as an extra runner the entire game, while Clifford made similar mistakes to the ones he made before he was benched when the Nittany Lions took on Nebraska, and didn’t play consistently throughout the game. He did, however, show progress early in the game.
“The turnovers, we can’t have them,” Franklin said. “I thought early on he looked very comfortable and very confident managing the game, but we’ve got to do it consistently.”
Without a any reasonable degree of certainty, it’s difficult to project a high-level player taking snaps next year at quarterback. Instead, Penn State will need its offense to meld around the signal caller — whoever it may be — and do what it can to amplify his strengths while avoiding exacerbating his weaknesses.
That means running. A lot.
Whether it’s with Cain, Lee, Ford or even freshman Caziah Holmes, the Penn State offense should try to hammer the ball down its opponents throats until it has a quarterback it can trust enough to stay on the field for a full game. Saturday afternoon may be an early peek into the future of what the offense will be until that day comes.
As long as the Nittany Lions continue churning out talented backs like Lee and Ford, that will be a viable path. Their emergence is a positive outcome in a season full of negatives.
This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 4:40 PM.
