The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 2022 season to this point
Penn State is entering its bye week with all of its goals ahead of it. The Nittany Lions are 5-0 and have defeated two Power-5 opponents on the road in Purdue and Auburn. Yet, consternation remains about the team. The offense has yet to click at its highest level for a full 60 minutes, and it will need to as a stretch of games against Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State looms.
Head coach James Franklin said the unit’s identity has taken shape this season.
“I think this year our identity revolves around being more balanced and having the ability to run or pass,” Franklin said. “I think that’s probably a big adjustment from last year and maybe even previous years.”
That identity will show itself even more in the coming weeks and come into its final form thanks to that difficult stretch of games.
With no game this week, the Nittany Lions will have nearly two full weeks to prepare for their toughest — and most important — part of the season.
Good
Manny Diaz: It’s hard to call the start to Diaz’s tenure anything other than a resounding success. The unit ranks fifth in Bill Connelly’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. The unit was routinely top 10 in the metric under former defensive coordinator Brent Pry, but it’s taken a step forward this season. It’s not just better, either. It’s stylistically different in a way that should allow the team to be more successful against better competition.
The group is more aggressive and flies to the ball, taking the action to the Nittany Lions’ opponents before they can take it to them. That’s especially important against the best offenses because it applies pressure to quarterbacks. It’s almost impossible to beat the best signal callers in the country by sitting back and letting them pick you apart. Bringing aggressiveness — blitzing more and trying to force turnovers — can compromise even the best quarterbacks in the country. That’s already crucial, but even more crucial in the coming weeks against teams like Michigan and Ohio State.
Mitch Tinsley: Penn State had questions at wide receiver after Jahan Dotson left for the 2022 NFL Draft, but Tinsley has essentially filled any potential void five games into the season. His stats may not be overly impressive, but his on-field contributions far outpace the statistical production. He has 19 catches for 225 yards and three touchdowns this season but is consistently getting open for the Nittany Lions.
Tinsley creates separation with his refined route running while having the strength and catch radius to also haul in passes in contested catch situations. He has more speed than you’d expect and is more than capable of breaking plays open by avoiding tackles in the open field. His stats will likely improve as the Nittany Lions are in closer games, but they don’t necessarily need to. His contributions as a blocker aren’t easily measured, but he adds a perimeter blocking asset that allows the team’s running backs to get the big plays Franklin desires. Tinsley’s importance will only increase as the season moves along and he starts to play more and more snaps in non-blowout games.
Freshmen running backs: I’ve never seen two freshmen running backs make this big of an impact at Penn State, and I can’t imagine many others have either. Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton already look like two of the best running backs in the conference — and potentially the country. The two freshmen provide very different skill sets that complement each other well. Singleton is a true home run hitter. He tends to succeed most on the outside, where he can use his elite speed to break away from tackles. He tends to bounce runs out to try and hit the big one.
Allen is more of an every down back right now. He’s consistently gaining positive yards, and usually gaining enough to make a real difference in the offense. He has elite balance and vision, finding his way through gaps and not allowing the first tackler to bring him down. It’s not as if Allen is slow either — he’s plenty fast enough to create big plays even if he doesn’t have elite speed. Singleton will soon have that same every down value, but right now he doesn’t need it thanks to his classmate that helps form the best freshman running back duo in the nation.
Brenton Strange: Tight end usage in the offense was an issue in the 2021 season, but that’s not the case this year and a large reason for that is Strange’s play. He’s the team’s second leading receiver in terms of yardage with 231 and first in receiving touchdowns with four. The redshirt junior is strong after the catch, breaking tackles and occasionally seeking out an attempted hurdle over the top of a defender. Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich gets him the ball in the flats and lets him go to work on drives down the field, then isolates him against linebackers and cornerbacks in the red zone where he can use his size as an advantage.
The biggest area of improvement for Strange, however, is his blocking. He wasn’t a willing blocker last season or an effective one. He’s far surpassed expectations in the running game so far, moving defensive ends and linebackers and occasionally completely dispatching of defenders in his path. Strange is a legitimate threat in the running game for Penn State and has been a key part of the offense’s resurgence on the ground.
Bad
Sean Clifford: Here we go again. The very fun, definitely not polarizing, Clifford discussion. I’m not entirely sure he’s the team’s best option at quarterback now. I know that sentence will surely agitate some, but it is based entirely on his play so far and not just the tantalizing backup behind him.
The redshirt senior is the same quarterback he has been for the last few years. He’s inconsistent, playing poorly for long stretches before rebounding to play great football. That’s more than good enough against the teams Penn State has faced so far but won’t be the rest of the way. I’m not ruling out Clifford’s ability to lead the offense to a win against Michigan — in fact, that’s a winnable game in part because Michigan doesn’t have much of a passing offense itself right now. But come Ohio State and that won’t be good enough.
That Michigan point is also part of the reason I don’t think starting Drew Allar on the road at The Big House is that big of a deal either. The game is a noon kickoff, inherently dampening the atmosphere a tad — there’s a reason Penn State’s White Out is against Minnesota and not Ohio State — and the offense will not have to be at its absolute best to earn a win. Starting the true freshman then will allow him to adjust to running the offense with a couple weeks until the biggest game of the season against Ohio State. Allar gives Penn State its best chance against the Buckeyes based on what we’ve seen this season. That’s not based off a recruiting ranking, or veteran leadership, but on-field play. That being said, I don’t believe any change will happen until Penn State loses a game or two.
Wide receiver depth: This is an area that Penn State will have a chance to improve this season, if everything is fine on the injury front. KeAndre Lambert-Smith had a boot on his foot after the Northwestern game and there has been no prognosis given for whatever his injury may be. He’s currently a starter but will be supplanted by a player that has already earned reps this season in Tre Wallace. Wallace is the guy as long as Lambert-Smith is out but there needs to be more depth at the position. Tinsley, Lambert-Smith and Parker Washington have soaked up most of the snaps this season with Wallace seemingly establishing himself as a clear fourth option on the depth chart.
There are other options on the team, however, and they need to step up. Jaden Dottin, Liam Clifford and Omari Evans are the other players currently battling for those spots and it seems Evans and Dottin have an edge. Nevertheless, they still haven’t been good enough to consistently rotate in and currently serve as options to take over for the starters if they’re tired from the previous play. They’ll need to be more than that to allow Penn State’s offense to evolve and become more injury-proof moving forward.
Ugly
Kicking game: Penn State needs to be better at field goals. Point blank, period, end of story. This special teams unit doesn’t have anyone it can really trust right now from 40 yards out or farther and that’s a problem. Jake Pinegar has proven to be inconsistent and doesn’t necessarily have the big leg to make the longest of field goals. Sander Sahaydak clearly hasn’t impressed the coaching staff enough to win the job outright and needs to continue improving to be the player he will likely become down the road.
It’s hard to envision the Nittany Lions suddenly becoming a good kicking team on field goals almost halfway through the season, which means the offense will likely have to be more aggressive or the team will become more passive. If nobody can make 45-yard field goals, that means Penn State will be pressed into going for more fourth downs deep in opponent territory, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It could also lead, however, to more passive play and more punting to pin other teams deep — inhibiting the offense and taking marginal yardage gains over potential points. The team’s kicking struggles haven’t hurt it yet, but could in the not-too-distant future.
