UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Trace McSorley had a front-row seat to Christian Hackenberg's final collegiate season and all the criticism that went with it.
"The thing that helped me out in dealing with the media and you guys was his demeanor and how he did it," McSorley said Wednesday morning. "That dude got arguably some of the worst media coverage that anyone's gotten in the last few years here. He dealt with it. He kept a level head. He never let it get to him too much. He was focused and knew the important things. He knew the opinions of the important people, the ones that really mattered were the ones in the football building. He took everything with a grain of salt."
McSorley has perhaps at times this season channeled his inner Hackenberg by shrugging off critics who suggest that maybe he's struggled more through the first five games this season than expected, or that he hasn't been as sharp as projected. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and James Franklin both rattled off stat after stat within the past two weeks about McSorley's work this season, noting that the team is No. 4 in the country and sitting at 5-0. Moorhead even went to bat for his quarterback before the season started, trying to debunk the myth that the Lions' shot plays were nothing more than 50-50 balls that with some good luck went their way one year ago.
The fact that some fans are a little up in arms about McSorley's play -- despite the offense averaging 471 yards and 40.4 points per game -- also speaks to how much this offense continues to improve from where it was during the Hackenberg and John Donovan era. Criticizing 471 yards seems wild after how rough this offense looked during Franklin's first two years. Surely part of that judgement has to do with the Lions' College Football Playoff aspirations, which makes criticizing them based off what they accomplished last year much more strict than season's past.
Everyone won't always be pleased, especially with any quarterback, but to think that any Twitter critics would get under McSorley's skin seemingly hasn't happened.
"He's the same guy," said linebacker Koa Farmer, one of McSorley's closest friends on the team. "He's very competitive. Actually I would say, I think Trace talks really well when he's trying to get us fired up before the game. I don't really see him that way off the field, which is pretty funny. But Trace isn't a guy that really changes on and off the field. He's the same guy, the same good guy that we all know."
Teams have changed how they're attacking McSorley and the Lions' potent offense. Iowa tried to not let the Lions beat them with any shot plays by forcing them to work through the underneath routes. It resulted in five points in the first half, but ultimately a clutch 2-minute drive where McSorley was at his best proved to be the difference.
"Some of them have been there and some of them have been better covered up," McSorley said of the Lions' deep balls. "We just haven't been able to connect on some of them that have been there. It's not something we're necessarily worried about. When we go back each week, we're still creating and meeting our explosive play goal."
Against Indiana, the offense -- after a 28-0 lead in the first quarter that was sparked by 14 points from special teams -- went nearly 25 minutes without scoring a point. It's stretches like those that raise questions about when this offense will hit its stride because in conference play it hasn't consistently done so just yet.
Part of the Lions not hitting those shot plays stems from the work up front where the Lions' line used three different right tackles in games thus far. A group that was supposed to be a strength of this team this season has also been up and down while teams have brought pressure up the middle.
Making sure McSorley identifies those pressures and adjusts the protection before the ball is snapped is something Franklin said this week the quarterback will need to continue to improve on. That could also pay dividends in the run game where Franklin said the Lions need to have more consistent results with their deep stable of backs.
"In the run game, it's a little bit of being not necessarily more aggressive on the reads, but teams are jumping in and adding guys in the box, so you have to make sure they pay with our RPO game and me being more of a threat in the running game using my feet," McSorley said.
However, McSorley said he has grown more comfortable in his ability to read and decipher defenses while also working through his progressions. Whether that results in completions of four yards or 40 yards shouldn't matter too much as long as the offense continues to march down the field.
All eyes will continue to be on No. 9 as the Lions head to Evanston, Ill. for Saturday afternoon's game against the Wildcats. After all, it's now October and that brutal stretch of games coming up after next week's bye will go a long way in determining the outcome of this season. While he wouldn't look past this week's game, McSorley is already thinking about a to-do list for the bye week, one that includes building a stronger rapport with his receivers.
"We've had a couple times where guys have been a little bit covered up and they're expecting the ball to come over the shoulder and I'm looking to put it back shoulder or whatever it might be," he said. "Really just getting on the same page there with the chemistry. For whatever reason, it feels like it hasn't been exactly where it was in the summer when we were really feeling good. ... If there's one area, especially in our passing game that we can improve on, it's that."
QUICK HITS
• Penn State's improvement on special teams, notably with the coverage and return units, continues to show up in a big way. Special teams captain Nick Scott, who scored a touchdown against Indiana after Irv Charles forced the fumble on an Indiana punt return, said Charles' physique continues making him a weapon in the third phase.
"There's not may places where you can go and take a 6-4, 220-plus pound wide receiver and put him at gunner," Scott said. "When you do that, guys out there guarding him, it's either a speed problem or a strength problem because he has both. He's really elite when it comes to special teams and he's obviously bought in."
• The 2015 game in Evanston had a rough ending for the Lions as a would-be interception bounced off Grant Haley's chest and on the following play he was beaten on a pass that helped put the Wildcats in position for the game-winning field goal. Surely those two moments stick with Haley, who has become quite the leader and playmaker for the secondary this season.
While Haley won't meet with the media during the lead up to this week's game, how the 2015 matchup unfolded still sticks with some of the players who were there.
"I remember towards the end of the game we didn't make the plays that we needed to make and then we got a sour ending," Farmer said. "Their running back, he ran really well against us. We didn't really play the run very well. And they're a great football team. They're very well-coached, they're smart guys. I think it's going to be a really good matchup considering we haven't beat them in a while."
• Franklin and punter Blake Gillikin will meet with the media following practice Wednesday night. I'll have an update off that while intern Waiss David Aramesh will handle the photos and videos.