Here is how Penn State football’s trajectory has changed after a 3-0 start
Penn State football entered the 2021 season with lowered expectations.
The Nittany Lions lost their first five games in 2020 and finished at 4-5 in a season that was marred with poor play and miscues. Questions arose about the state of the program and what its ceiling was after James Franklin’s first losing season as Penn State’s head coach.
Franklin and his team didn’t have much time to ease into its follow-up season. They had the then-No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers on the road in their season opener, the returning Mid-American Conference champion Ball State Cardinals in Week 2 and an SEC opponent in the Auburn Tigers in Week 3.
A 2-1 record seemed likely. A 1-2 record seemed possible. The program seemed destined to fall closer to the middle of the Big Ten East than the top of it.
Instead, the Nittany Lions are off to a 3-0 start and have as high of a ceiling as any team in the Big Ten this season.
The start can be attributed to both sides of the ball for Penn State, a far cry from last season when the offense struggled for the majority of the nine games the team played.
A change at offensive coordinator to Mike Yurcich has set the table for redshirt senior quarterback Sean Clifford to take a meaningful step forward. Clifford has struggled in the past with his footwork, working through his progressions and his poise within the pocket, but those issues have largely been minimized through three games.
Clifford had several plays against Auburn where he stood in the pocket and waited for his teammates to work their way open — rather than taking off downfield — and the team was better off for it.
Franklin said the Clifford that has shown up through three games — including a 28-of-32, 280-yard, two-touchdown performance against Auburn — is the one he’s always seen.
“There’s ups and downs and twists and turns in everybody’s career,” Franklin said. “But this is the Sean Clifford that I’ve always expected and anticipated.”
Clifford has been a key to the offense’s success but so has the team’s weapons’ ability to find openings against high-level defenses. Jahan Dotson, Parker Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith have gotten off to hot starts on the outside, which is especially important considering the team’s running game hasn’t exactly held up its end of the bargain, averaging only 3.8 yards per carry.
Instead, the receivers have been an extension of the running game, catching passes close to the line of scrimmage and making plays happen that way.
The unit as a whole continues to take strides forward each time it takes the field.
“I think we just continue to take steps,” Franklin said. “I think Week 1, we took a step on the road at Wisconsin, tough environment, one of the better defenses traditionally, one of the most respected defensive coordinators. ... I thought we took a step in Week 2, and I think we took a step in Week 3 and we’re just going to need to continue to do that.”
The other side of the ball had fewer steps to take this season but has shown it’s playing at a higher level than in 2020. The unit looks to be one of the best in the country after holding its first three opponents to 43 combined points, including against the ranked Badgers and Tigers.
The group finished the 2020 season 14th in SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency created by ESPN’s Bill Connelly. The group has already improved from that impressive performance, and it has done so without any reprieve through three games, currently ranking as the No. 6 defense in the country according to the metric.
The group has stayed singularly-minded, however, and hasn’t gotten caught up in the national discussion about where it stands.
“We don’t talk about the national championship,” linebacker Brandon Smith said. “We talk about the game that we have to play that next weekend. As long as we look at the film and see we’re getting better, then that’s all we need to worry about.”
Part of the improvement is the increase in takeaways the Nittany Lions are generating this season. They had nine turnovers in nine games last season, but are already up to six in just three games this year.
Senior cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields said the increase in turnovers is partially due to the team’s increased effort in finding the ball and playing it rather than playing the receiver downfield.
“That’s what’s going to get you paid at the end of the day,” Castro-Fields said. “You can cover a guy, but just going after the ball, being a playmaker, that’s where the money is. That’s what switches momentum. That’s what creates big plays, gets the crowd going. I think we’re doing a good job of that.”
Like the offense, however, there is still room to keep getting better.
The Nittany Lions gave up 184 rushing yards on 39 carries to Auburn and will need to be better than that against good opponents, although the unit was much better against Ball State and Wisconsin when it comes to stopping the run.
Still, they’ll have to do that consistently to reach their peak this season as a defense.
Castro-Fields said he and his teammates know there’s more out there for them, and they plan on doing what they have to so they can improve.
“I think we can get better all across the board,” Castro-Fields said. “Just never be satisfied, never be complacent. We have a long season ahead of us. That’s really it.”
Improvements on both sides of the ball will help Penn State continue its ascent in the college football world. The team is ranked No. 6 in the AP poll, but that doesn’t seem to be its ceiling.
With Ohio State struggling on defense and very few teams separating themselves from the pack nationally, the door has cracked open for Penn State. James Franklin and his Nittany Lions have a chance to achieve something they haven’t done in his time as the team’s head coach.
Soon enough, the discourse on the program may shift from one off to a hot start, to one that can make the College Football Playoff.
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
