The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 28-0 win over Rutgers
Penn State star wide receiver Jahan Dotson never doubted the true freshman who stepped in to take over the offense after usual starter Sean Clifford left due to an illness.
Dotson had all of the faith he needed that Christian Veilleux could handle the job and then some in the game. And it showed up on the team’s first touchdown drive in the 28-0 win over Rutgers — one of four with Veilleux at the helm.
“I was on the left side, was gonna motion over,” Dotson said. “We were gonna run a little two-man route combination with me and KeAndre (Lambert-Smith). Christian did a great job of recognizing the coverage. It was Cover 0, he knew we had man-to-man. He checked it, he made a great check to something we work on every single Sunday. He did a great job doing that, rolled out, created some space and delivered the ball on time in the perfect place.”
Veilleux looked like a veteran in the game, finishing with 235 passing yards and three passing touchdowns on 15-of-24 passing.
The young quarterback’s success was not a surprise to his teammates, though. No matter which side of the ball they were on, his fellow Nittany Lions praised him and how prepared he was for the situation.
“The way he comes in, he writes down notes, he takes his job seriously,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “You see some freshman, they’ll just joke around and stuff like that. He comes in with a plan.”
The freshman’s offensive teammates saw his confidence right away in the game. He entered the matchup with eight seconds remaining in the first quarter, leading the huddle at that moment on the sidelines for the first time in his college career.
Yet, it was as if nothing had changed. Sophomore wide receiver Parker Washington saw the readiness as soon as he took command of the group.
“He came out and it was like nobody ever left,” Washington said. “He did his job and executed well.”
Good
Christian Veilleux’s debut: There haven’t been many bright spots for the Nittany Lions in recent weeks but Veilleux’s emergence still immediately jumps to the top of the list. Given how Penn State’s backup quarterback position has played out this season it would have been naive to expect, well, anything out of Veilleux. Redshirt sophomore Ta’Quan Roberson struggled mightily against Iowa last month and Penn State head coach James Franklin decided to stick with Clifford even though he was clearly banged up against Illinois.
Expectations from Veilleux were low, but the bar was clearly surpassed and then some in the win. He was efficient, finding check-down options when he needed to and taking off when the situation called for it. He created explosive plays, throwing the ball downfield to receivers and giving them chances to win 1-on-1 battles. He was intelligent, checking to the aforementioned route concept when it was clear Dotson would have man coverage. Frankly, he played better than any quarterback has for Penn State since the first quarter of the matchup with Iowa. Veilleux is the backup for now, but showed he — assuming he can maintain Saturday’s level of play — has the ability to lead the Nittany Lions as a starter.
Penn State’s defense: The Nittany Lion defense has been the one constant for the program this season and Saturday was no different. The unit pitched its second shutout of the season, with both coming against Big Ten opponents, after the team shut out the Indiana Hoosiers early in October. Rutgers rarely crossed midfield Saturday no matter what it tried. Frankly, the defense could have caused even more chaos for the Scarlet Knights after it dropped two interceptions that both likely would have gone for touchdowns.
Instead the unit was simply held scoreless and couldn’t do anything to successfully move the ball with any consistency. Any time Rutgers ran the ball, the Nittany Lions quickly adapted and shut down any open lanes. When the Scarlet Knights decided to pass they were frequently met with tight coverage or narrow windows in the zone defense. Not to mention, the pass rush was getting home at crucial times, like when redshirt senior defensive end Arnold Ebiketie shut down the lone Rutgers drive in the red zone by getting a strip sack on fourth down to end it. Penn State’s defense was the best unit on the field Saturday, as it frequently has all season.
Offensive line play: The Penn State offensive line hasn’t been a point of pride this season but the group should be commended for how it handled Saturday afternoon. The sickness that spread through Lasch Building this week and injuries left the line without three of its starters most of the game, with that number reaching four at one point. For a group that has struggled, the backups played fairly well, especially in the passing game where Veilleux had time to survey the field and had space in the pocket to move around. The Scarlet Knights finished with only one sack in the game and once Veilleux was in, his jersey stayed clean.
Freshman offensive tackle Landon Tengwall was one of the players who received meaningful playing time and excelled when he was on the field. He sealed the edge for sophomore running back Keyvone Lee on a touchdown and held up well in the passing game, where he was rarely beat by the Rutgers edge rushers. His run blocking wasn’t always perfect but he won his matchups more often than not and showed he has the versatility to play across the offensive line in his college career.
Bad
Run game: While Tengwall was fine, the rest of the offensive line wasn’t ideal in the running game and the group of running backs didn’t play as well as it should have against the Rutgers defense. Lee wasn’t as good as he was against Michigan last week, struggling to get north and south and reverting to an issue he had getting downhill on a couple of occasions. The blocking wasn’t bad considering the situation, but it still wasn’t good enough to spring any of the running backs. Lee was the clear primary back when the game was close and his inability to find space to work slowed the offense down at times.
Because of the way offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich calls plays, the lack of running game didn’t slow the offense down but it could have been more harmful against a better team. At this point in the season, Yurcich may be better off abandoning the run game for the most part and limiting the times he calls run plays. The Penn State offense has been better at moving the ball through the air anyway and there’s only one regular season game and one bowl game left to play. It’s unlikely the team can salvage this year’s running attack at this point in the season.
Rutgers’ aggressiveness: The Scarlet Knights were always going to be at a disadvantage and would need to play aggressively in order to win. That means throwing the ball downfield, running trick plays and going for fourth downs when it might be a toss-up to do so. Instead, they did none of that. They played passively, didn’t attempt to go for it on fourth down until it was way too late and ran a predictable offense.
The game plan was that of a team that was convinced it could win outright, and maybe it could have, but once it was clear the Nittany Lions had any rhythm offensively, Rutgers should have pivoted to more aggression. There were opportunities to go for it on fourth down and the Scarlet Knights appeared to mull them over, winding the clock down before sending the punt team out or calling a timeout. Sure, going for it in those situations puts the team more at-risk for a blowout. But a loss is a loss whether it’s by 28 or 49 and increasing your odds of winning should be the only goal when you’re as much of an underdog at Rutgers was Saturday.
Ugly
Availability: Not a lot was that ugly in this game, but things could have been a disaster for Penn State given how few players were available. Franklin said the Nittany Lions were short 35 players in the game for various reasons, 21 of which were due to the illness that ran through the team throughout the week. They were missing several offensive linemen, ultimately two quarterbacks, a key linebacker and myriad other players who were unavailable against Rutgers.
The door was open for the Scarlet Knights to earn a victory but the strong Nittany Lion defense prevented them from ever gaining control of the game or the scoreboard. The lack of availability for several players could also benefit Penn State in the long run after players such as Tengwall and Veilleux were able to get serious reps in a conference victory.
