Penn State’s offensive line improves incrementally after Franklin’s offseason deference
Penn State head coach James Franklin said it time and time again prior to the start of the season — the media would tell him how his offensive line performed. Those comments came with frequent declined opportunities to discuss how he thought it would perform, saying he would let the group’s play do the talking.
So, with one 35-31 road win over Purdue in the books, how did they do?
“We weren’t able to get any explosive runs which is something that we’re committed to doing,” Franklin said following the win. “I think overall, I think the line battled. But too many pressures, too many sacks, too many runs where the running back didn’t really have a situation to get going and be open in space or to be able to make a safety miss. So we gotta keep chipping away at that.”
The Nittany Lions won the game and in the process made progress with one of the most maligned group of Franklin’s tenure — even if it was incremental.
The group only allowed one sack in the game, but struggled to maximize the running game with the team only finishing with 98 yards on 32 carries.
Despite the struggles, running back Keyvone Lee thought the progress the group made was still evident.
“It was just the blocking,” Lee said. “That was the main focus from last year. ... Our o-line got way better from last year. We rallied behind them boys and continue to push them boys.”
One of the biggest differences in the line was at left tackle, where sophomore Olu Fashanu started the second game of his career after doing the same after the Outback Bowl last year. Fashanu stonewalled his opponents all night long and consistently helped the offense make headway in the running game.
Despite only making his second career start, the young left tackle had confidence he and the rest of the line would overcome last year’s struggles and turn the corner.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t nervous.
“Everyone going into the game feels a little bit of nerves,” Fashanu said. “Me personally, I felt like myself and the o-line, we were just prepared to the point that we couldn’t get too nervous. Obviously Purdue is a great opponent and we respect them a lot so we spent a great amount of time watching film, looking at the different fronts and pressures they could bring. When you do that for a certain amount of time, you can only be so nervous. For me personally, there was a little bit of nerves going into the game, but honestly not much.”
Fashanu’s group came up big in moments late in the game — when you’d think nerves would be highest — and gave redshirt senior starting quarterback Sean Clifford time to operate and find his weapons. The offense closed out the victory with an eight-play, 80-yard drive that was methodical, but simultaneously hasty in its urgency. There was one change on the offensive line, with Bryce Effner coming in at right tackle for Caedan Wallace. Franklin said that was the plan, to rotate Effner in, but his performance helped the team go on the drive and give the playmakers an opportunity to make a play.
It was capped off with a pass from Clifford where the protection wasn’t ideal, through no fault of the offensive line’s. The quarterback said the play broke down because the defensive play call — Cover 0, which includes several blitzing defenders — and the line blocked everyone it was supposed to.
He was forced to make a play, tossing the ball to Lee over the top of a defender. The play — which Lee jokingly said was called “Keyvone score, Keyvone get open” — forced the running back to turn his body while keeping his balance and hauling the ball in.
“Them catches that I practice over and over,” Lee said. “So it was kind of an easy catch when I put my eyes on the ball, so I just made the catch. ... I didn’t know (I was open) at first. I was looking around like, ‘Am I scoring?’ and then I didn’t see anybody around and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I scored.’”
With win No. 1 behind the team — no matter how ugly — the Lions must improve. They will not be able to play like they did at Ross-Ade Stadium the rest of the way and expect to earn wins.
There will be lesson to absorb and an urgency to improve with another big game against Auburn in just over two weeks on the road. But those lessons are much easier to digest now. Instead of trying to learn after a loss, something Franklin previously said his teams would wait for to improve, they will learn from a win.
And while it wasn’t pretty, Penn State still left West Lafayette with a victory in tow.
For a coach that constantly preaches going 1-0 each week, sometimes it’s hard to ask for more.
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 2:05 AM.
