Here’s 5 things to watch in Saturday’s Penn State vs. Michigan State college football game
The Penn State Nittany Lions (2-5) are looking to continue to turn around their season after two back-to-back wins when they take on the Michigan State Spartans (2-4) at noon Saturday (ABC) at Beaver Stadium.
Here are five things to keep an eye on:
PSU RB KEYVONE LEE
Penn State freshman running back Keyvone Lee has found his footing in the past two weeks. After rushing for a career-high 134 yards on 22 carries against Michigan, Lee led the way for the Nittany Lions’ running back room again last weekend by rushing for 95 yards on 17 carries against Rutgers.
The 6-foot, 230-pound former former-star prospect came in projected to be Penn State’s fourth-string running back this season, but he’s had to step up more than anyone likely anticipated. Star redshirt junior running back Journey Brown (medically retired last month because of a heart condition) didn’t play a snap this year and standout sophomore running back Noah Cain (suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 1 against Indiana) went out on the first drive of the year.
Initially thrust into a three-man running back rotation with sophomore Devyn Ford and freshman Caziah Holmes, Lee has started to separate himself over the Nittany Lions’ past two games.
Leading up to his monster outing in Penn State’s first win of the season against Michigan, Lee had totaled only 93 yards on the ground on 19 carries through the Nittany Lions’ first five games. His stats against the Wolverines and Scarlet Knights combined are eye-popping, though: 229 rushing yards on 39 attempts — good for about 5.9 yards per carry.
Before Lee’s emergence, Franklin said it was Ford who was supposed to be the Nittany Lions’ feature back. Now, though, it looks like the two running backs could be 1A and 1B in Penn State’s running backs rotation.
It’ll be interesting to see if Lee can maintain his recent level of play when Penn State takes on Michigan this Saturday and for the remainder of the season.
CAN PSU QB SEAN CLIFFORD TAKE CARE OF THE FOOTBALL?
Through Penn State’s program-worst 0-5 start this season, turnovers were one of the team’s main problems. Many of these turnovers came off the hands of redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford.
The 6-foot-2, 217-pound Ohio native had thrown eight interceptions and had two fumbles returned for touchdowns during the Nittany Lions’ five-game losing streak.
But Clifford appeared to turn a corner during Penn State’s first win of the season over Michigan. In that contest, Clifford didn’t do anything overly flashy — he just made smart decisions with the football and managed the game effectively. He finished his afternoon against the Wolverines with 163 passing yards (17-28 completions) and 73 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground on nine carries. It marked the first game of the season in which he didn’t turn the ball over.
And though Clifford did throw an interception against Rutgers last week — finishing the outing with 133 passing yards (15-22 completions), a touchdown and 21 rushing yards on eight carries — he’s looked noticeably more collected the past two weeks than he had all season.
Last week, first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca said he felt like Clifford’s struggles came from “trying to be too perfect.” But now, Ciarrocca feels like his quarterback has started to trust what he sees in the Nittany Lions’ new offense.
“I think that’s exactly what it is,” Clifford said Tuesday. “Early on when we were struggling a little bit, I thought that I had to do things out of the box to make plays for the offense, do things outside of the realm on a consistent basis. I just thought that if it wasn’t there, I had to make a play.”
How good of a job Clifford does at eliminating his turnovers will go a long way in determining how strong of a finish Penn State has to its 2020 season.
HOW WILL PSU QB WILL LEVIS BE USED?
Head coach James Franklin has said for weeks now that his team would need to use both Clifford and redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis. Still, the amount of snaps that Levis got against Rutgers last week likely came as a surprise to most watching.
Aside from short-yardage situations on third and fourth downs, Levis was used early in drives versus the Scarlet Knights. He ran for 65 yards on 17 carries but didn’t attempt a single pass.
There were two drives — one late in the first quarter and the other midway through the third quarter — during the contest in which Levis ran three consecutive times before Clifford even attempted a pass. So, it became pretty obvious early on that whenever Levis was behind center, a quarterback draw would be called. Against Rutgers, it didn’t matter — the strategy proved effective regardless. But it could be a problem versus tougher opponents.
“We gotta mix the pass in with Will,” Franklin said Tuesday. “Will’s doing a really good job helping us in short-yardage situations or a four-minute offense. The reality is that’s a big part of how we wanted to use him. But we also want to be able to mix some of those other things in there, because he’s shown that he can do it.”
Franklin added that allowing Levis to throw would help to keep opponents “off balance” and make his group “a little bit less predictable.”
Keep an eye on when Levis checks into the game on Saturday and how he’s used throughout the contest.
PENN STATE’S RED ZONE OFFENSE
Penn State’s red zone efficiency has been one of the worst in the country all season. Even with back-to-back wins the past two weeks, this hasn’t changed.
The Nittany Lions are tied for 112th out of 128 FBS teams with a red zone conversion rate of 71.4 percent. In 28 trips to the red zone this season, the team has only scored 12 touchdowns and made eight field goals.
Against Rutgers, Penn State made three trips to the red zone but only scored 13 points (one touchdown and two field goals). Missed opportunities have hurt the Nittany Lions all season, and they still will if a change — whether in play calling or execution — isn’t made.
Michigan State is ranked No. 25 in the country in red zone defense, so Penn State will have to sharpen up in this area on Saturday. The Spartans have allowed opponents to score 22 times (18 touchdowns and four field goals) out of 29 attempts inside the 20-yard line.
Ciarrocca said last week that he has to continue to do “a better job of looking at what our players do best” when it comes to calling plays in the red zone.
If the Nittany Lions don’t fix this issue soon, they’ll once again leave points on the board on Saturday against Michigan State.
PENN STATE’S SENIOR DAY FESTIVITIES
In a normal season, fans make sure to arrive early to Beaver Stadium on Senior Day to celebrate Penn State’s seniors during pregame festivities. Seniors are honored and greeted by their parents on the field before the opening kickoff.
But this season has been far from normal — so Senior Day for the Nittany Lions on Saturday against Michigan State will look a bit different, too.
Franklin said the 12 seniors will still be recognized on the field prior to kickoff, but the players’ parents will have to stay in the stands. The seventh-year head coach also mentioned that he’d appreciate it if fans — who have been greeting the Nittany Lions all season with signs on the side of the road in State College as they head to away games — would do something for the seniors.
“If those fans plan on doing that again this week, I would love for them maybe to all do something for these seniors,” Franklin said Tuesday. “... I’d like for it to be special for them in any way it possibly can, because there’s not a whole lot we can do in the stadium that a lot of these guys have waited years to do.”
Saturday’s game is obviously crucial for Penn State to win in order to continue to try to change the narrative of its 2020 campaign and make a push for a potential bowl bid.
But for Penn State’s seniors, having a chance to capture one final win in Beaver Stadium adds even more significance to the game. And that makes not slipping up to Michigan State that much more important.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 10:31 AM.
