Four downs: What was learned during Lions' beatdown of Georgia State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- With three victories under their belt, the identity of the 2017 Nittany Lions is starting to take shape.

Through the first three games we've seen Saquon Barkley dazzle whether catching passes, running for touchdowns or even hanging in to make some key blitz pickups like he did during Saturday night's 56-0 beatdown of Georgia State. Quarterback Trace McSorley showcased the ability to keep plays alive with his legs and continues helping this offense reel off explosive gains game after game.

The Lions' defense, with two shutouts in the past three games, showed that at times it will bend but won't break and this group's off-season emphasis on creating turnovers is continuing to pay dividends. The Lions came up with five takeaways against Georgia State and cornerback Grant Haley has two interceptions in as many weeks. Safety Marcus Allen, a starter since his freshman season, recorded his first career interception during Saturday's win.


"That's something I've been working on for a long time," Allen said, adding that it's a monkey off his back. "A long time. You all don't understand."

While the real identity of this team will be tested once conference play begins next Saturday under the lights in Iowa City, what did these Nittany Lions learn about this 2017 team and themselves that three games ago they didn't know?

• Safety Troy Apke:  "I think we have a lot of grit to us. Special teams, offense, defense. I think we go out there and we play with this pride. ... This game when the threes and fours were out there the way they played and the way they stopped their second offense out there. They played well."

• Running back Andre Robinson: "Today we probably played our most complete game, played all four quarters and executed in all three facets of the game and really finished and had a closer's mentality, which is what our goal was for this week. We look good going into the rest of our season."



• Barkley: "We just have a whole bunch of guys, a good group of core guys that's just really special. They do it in practice. They do it in games. [DaeSean Hamilton] jumping in from the 5-yard line like he's Reggie Bush getting in the end zone. Saeed [Blacknall] making plays and getting back to his normal self. The sky is the limit for this team."

• Quarterback Tommy Stevens: "If I had to say anything, maybe I'm a little bit better of an athlete than people thought. From the very beginning I wasn't expecting to get handoffs in the backfield and to take carries away from 26, 6 and all those guys. ... I'm happy to help out wherever I can."

FIRST DOWN

Back to his old ways?

Quarterback Trace McSorley came out firing, going 6 for 6 on the Lions' opening drive and capping it with a 10-yard touchdown to Tommy Stevens. He finished with 18 completions on 23 attempts for four touchdowns, including a long of 85 yards to Saquon Barkley.

"He's Trace," Barkley said. "That's what Trace does. ... He's a playmaker and is one of the best in the country."

The throws that McSorley missed early on last week in the Lions' win against Pitt weren't problematic against Georgia State, but the quarterback narrowly dodged two interceptions. With one pass bouncing off the linebacker's hands and another going off the ground, McSorley's line could've been much different. The one the linebacker dropped was gift-wrapped, but still it was a nice bounceback performance after the Pitt game. Just don't use that phrase around his running back.

"Bounce back?" Barkley said. "With respect to you I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. We won the game. He'll tell you the same thing. ...  He holds himself to a standard and he's the captain of the team, the leader of the team, the leader of the quarterback room and the offense and he holds himself to a standard. ... He's got that never-quit mentality and he's a winner. ... If he's gotta hand the ball off 40 times, if he's gotta throw the ball 60 times or if he's even got to run the ball himself he'll do it."

While last season it was the turnovers that helped tell the story about McSorley's performances, especially early in the season, making sure this offense is clicking for all four quarters still remains a challenge at times. Now, that sounds crazy after a 56-point performance, but looking ahead to Big Ten play I'm curious to see if McSorley is settled down and firing, not trying to force throws to have the errant passes that could've, and against better defenses would've, been interceptions.

There's no doubt that this offense is capable of putting up 50-plus points per game as we just witnessed. Eight different players scored and McSorley said this week was the Lions' best week of preparation. Setting that standard starts with the quarterback and while there's never been a doubt about how much teammates respect and rally around McSorley, it was still interesting to see, from up high in the press box, every player on the team rally around him during warmups. This offense goes as he goes.

"The weapons that we have it's going to be tough on opponents," McSorley said. "When you have eight guys scoring touchdowns it creates a lot of problems for defenses."

SECOND DOWN

Can a No. 2 step up?

The No. 2 running back job is up for grabs and the winner will likely be whoever can hold onto the ball. Miles Sanders was the No. 2 back last week against Pitt and then coughed up the ball. Andre Robinson got his chance against Georgia State and promptly fumbled as well.

Mark Allen, the back behind both of these guys, dressed for the first time this season and was in on a punt return late in the game. While the Lions have their bell cow in Barkley, they need to be able to spell him and if neither of these two reserves can be reliable, that's going to be a problem. Fumbles hurt Sanders' chance to take on a bigger role last season so maybe it's just a stretch of bad luck for a team that stresses ball security every day in practice, but either way the deepest position group on the team has to be surehanded.

But, the good news was when the backs did hold onto the ball, they both showed flashes of being difference makers. Sanders finished with three carries for 44 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown. Robinson had two carries for 39 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

"It was blocked perfectly," Robinson said of his touchdown. "I don't even know how long it was, but the receivers were 20, 30 yards down field blocking for me right going into the end zone. I can't ask for any more than that. They make it easy for me."

Then again, while Barkley continues to amaze his teammates, coaches and sometimes even himself with the plays he's able to make -- much like the 85-yard touchdown catch -- Penn State can forget about whoever is behind him. Still, they have to have this No. 2 spot nailed down because it takes more than one running back to get the job done, especially against elite opponents.



"I actually looked up the jumbotron because I couldn't see it," McSorley said of Barkley's 85-yard score. "I just kind of saw him skirt by the guys and get down the sideline and then I just started sprinting down toward the end zone."

Did Barkley surprise himself hitting that next gear? Has he ever surprised himself?

"A couple times," he said. "I remember one play my freshman year, the Illinois play and I jumped from like the 4-yard line and ended up in the end zone. That's probably the only time, one of the only plays where I was like, 'Oh. Wow.' I get more impressed with other plays. ... Mike Gesicki's one-handed catch against Temple last year was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Tommy getting in and making plays. Hammy getting in and making plays. I get more impressed with those guys than myself."

THIRD DOWN

More where that came from.

Yep, Joe Moorhead has more in line with this two-quarterback package that we first saw last year against Iowa and have already seen benefit this offense -- especially in the red zone -- this season.



Quarterback/athlete Tommy Stevens, the beneficiary of this, said he couldn't have even imagined being in such a role as he's in now back a few years ago when teams were looking to recruit the Indiana high school star as a safety. When Moorhead introduced this package last year, Stevens recalled being "excited."

He also wasn't aware that it was around to stay until he went to the team's first meeting Akron week and learned he'd have a different role in the game plan. Still though, he's not complaining about it as it's getting him on the field and Stevens threw his first career touchdown pass to Saeed Blacknall and even hung tough and absorbed a hit to deliver the strike. Stevens also caught his first career touchdown pass in the first quarter when he lined up as a running back.

"It's cool," Stevens said. "I really enjoy my role. ... I'm happy with the things that we've done as an offense and I'm looking forward to growing here in the future."

The touchdown to Blacknall was also the receiver's first of the season. Blacknall didn't have a catch prior to Saturday's game and finished with three catches for 64 yards, including the 35-yard touchdown where he showed an incredible ability to track the ball. Getting him going, and also getting Stevens involved, bodes well for the future of this offense. Look for both of these players to continue getting their opportunities the rest of the way.

FOURTH DOWN

What to make of this defense?

The Penn State defense has two shutouts through the first three games -- a mark the team hasn't hit since 1981 -- and the biggest takeaway thus far has been well, the takeaways.

Penn State had five takeaways against Georgia State, including the first fumble recovery of freshman Yetur-Gross Matos' career as well as the first forced fumble of Kevin Givens' career and the first forced fumble of Daniel Joseph's career. Haley has two picks in as many weeks and the fact that so many players are getting in on the turnovers shows that Penn State's off-season emphasis on it really is paying off.

Allen, whose interception sent the sideline into a frenzy, recognized that Georgia State didn't run a screen from their stacks formation and when he saw that, he dropped back into coverage and corralled the ball when the quarterback threw it right at him.

Still though, Franklin wants to see more from this defense, largely in the way of stopping the run and generating a more consistent pass rush.

"Obviously, you'd love for us to be a more suffocating defense, where they don't run the ball and they don't throw the ball for the little dinks and dunks down the field," Franklin said. "The most important thing is we're keeping people out of the end zone. We've done that really now for three weeks. I've been very, very pleased not giving up big plays on defense and keeping people out of the end zone."

Preserving the shutout was important to this and any defense. The Lions' starters threw their arms up for the crowd to get loud when Franklin called a timeout -- which was actually not to ice the kicker, but rather to make sure his fourth-stringers, who were on the field, could get off so they could get the second-teamers on. The defense celebrated when Georgia State's 31-yard field goal attempt went wide right.

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS