EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Penn State's pass rush problem isn't going away. With the injuries up front, Penn State was forced to move versatile lineman Kevin Givens out to defensive end.
That move was a given and while James Franklin lamented the Lions' rush woes yet again Saturday night, this time after the Lions' 27-24 loss to Michigan State, it seemingly doesn't matter how many players the Lions send, they're not getting home.
“We’re not getting to the quarterback,” Franklin said. “That’s showed up the last few weeks. They’re getting to us, getting pressure on our quarterback and we rush four? We’re not getting there. We rush five? We’re not getting there. We rush six? We’re not getting there."
The Lions' strengths have been their depth and their ability to create takeaways as a defense. These past two weeks, the Lions lacked the splash plays that come from big-time playmakers. While everything starts and ends up front, the Lions' linebackers really have been forgettable the last couple weeks.
"Defensively we’re blitzing, someone’s supposed to peel at the back – whether it’s a defensive end or linebacker – we go nobody peeling and we got a guy running down the field clean," Franklin said. "We got to get that cleaned up, got some moving parts, some guys injured, some other guys in there and we didn’t consistently execute the way we should’ve."
Givens said he doesn't know how long he'll line up outside. With freshman Yetur Gross-Matos and redshirt freshman Shane Simmons taking the field, plus speed rusher Shaka Toney on passing downs, they need contributions opposite Shareef Miller. Arguably the most production they got on Saturday came from Givens and senior interior lineman Tyrell Chavis.
Is there any reason to believe this will change the rest of the way?
"We have to trust our process," Chavis said. "We have to believe that if you do your job, the man beside you is going to do his job and it’ll all come together. ... Kevin stepped up into a big role this week. We put a lot of pressure on him and I feel like he handled it pretty well."
SECOND DOWN
The secondary is getting shredded for huge plays and the solution isn't coming.
It's baffling what's happened to this defense the past two weeks. All the talk about the Lions being an elite secondary really turned out to be false. They've given up 20 receptions of 15-plus yards combined in the past two games, and while they've played fantastic quarterbacks, the pace at which they got ripped apart is perplexing.
Take Michigan State's third-quarter touchdown drive that was capped by an LJ Scott three-yard score as an example. On 3rd and 18, Brian Lewerke hit Felton Davis for 16 yards. Three plays later, on 3rd and 11, he found Hunter Rison for 26 yards. The following play? That'd be a completion to Rison for 17 yards.
"I saw some similar route patterns that Ohio State did against us," linebacker Koa Farmer said. "That’s a credit to them, their coach is very good, obviously. He's been there for a very long time, winning there for a very long time. We gotta fix it."
As the chunk receptions added up, five of them came on third and long: 3rd and 19, 3rd and 10, 3rd and 18, 3rd and 11, 3rd and 20. Those are back-breakers for any defense.
"As a secondary we just gotta trust in our d-line, trust in our linebackers that they’re gonna get home, gonna cover as long as we can, just cover until you hear a whistle," cornerback Grant Haley said. "We didn’t do a great job of that today. ... I don’t think we can get frustrated. As competitors in the game we like the challenge and no matter how long the quarterback has time to sit there, we’re just going to do what we’re supposed to do. ... I think the defense we’re gonna get our mojo back."
So maybe it's better quarterbacks, a lack of a pass rush and lapses in coverage -- and likely a little bit of all three -- but to be exposed this badly is a tough pill for the Lions to swallow. And, now that two teams have found success against them through the air, they'd better expect there's more of it coming. Now, we may not see a team really test them out like that again in the regular season -- with Rutgers, Nebraska and Maryland coming up -- but in the bowl game, that will be an area that will need big-time improvement.
"They worked the middle of the field a lot today, just like last week," Haley said. "They found holes in the zones we were playing in and I think they had a good gameplan for us and their wide receivers made plays. Their quarterback put the ball in really good places and he didn’t really turn the ball over that much with just one turneover, so as a defense we pride ourselves on getting at least three turnovers and we didn't do that today."
THIRD DOWN
Saquon Barkley isn't the problem.
This shouldn't come as a surprise, but it's worth passing along. James Franklin basically said as much afterward while giving a pretty brutally honest assessment -- albeit somewhat agitated -- about his team.
"Saquon didn't struggle today, our offense did at times today," Franklin said when asked about Barkley's final line that included no touchdowns and 11 all-purpose yards. "We haven't been running the ball consistently this year. That's not a Saquon issue, that's a team issue and we've got to work to get it corrected. We're going to become a more hard-nosed team up front on both sides of the ball. ... We're not right now. We're too finesse."
The Lions' run game has been criticized since Week 1. With a new left tackle and right tackle Chasz Wright coming off the bench to start, this problem hasn't changed for most of the season. If the Lions can't have a successful ground game with one of the top players in college football, that's a major problem, and that issue was magnified as soon as the skies opened and the rain soaked the field.
Once the weather changed, the Lions' chances of winning took a hit, more so because of the run game than any other factor. The fact that Franklin is still criticizing their lack of physicality after nine games is concerning. That's a mentality thing; that requires a will to want to line up from the guy across from you and pound him into the ground. Franklin always points to Brendan Mahon as that guy with the nasty streak and said earlier this season that many of the Lions' linemen are big, nice guys who have to be able to flip the switch when they step on the field. Mahon had one noticeably nice block on a Penn State touchdown where he absolutely finished his man. But getting the other four to do it consistently hasn't happened.
The Lions did get Barkley involved by having him throw a 20-yard pass to Mike Gesicki off a direct snap, but his Heisman stock took a hit again this week, this time way more than it did against the Buckeyes, where he had the splash play on special teams. Barkley is Mr. Positive who won't turn on his linemen. It's admirable, really, but one can't help but think what numbers he'd post and what balance this offense would have if he had solid blocking all around, not just from the offensive line.
FOURTH DOWN
What's this offense without the explosive gains?
It's a Jekyll-Hyde type of deal with this Penn State offense. It struggles to sustain drives without explosive plays, and during those stretches where they can't get chunk plays, they aren't methodical enough to take a few yards here, a few there and move the chains down the field that way.
It's great that they're as explosive as they are. Their speed kills most teams on a level playing field, but that's another area where a sloppy, soggy field worked in Michigan State's favor. Franklin and Penn State's players were adamant that the delay wasn't the reason why they lost, but for a team with a limited ground game and tremendous speed on the perimeter, Mother Nature's ability to slow that down had an impact. It shouldn't have impacted how Penn State's receivers tried to haul in easy catches, especially in the third quarter as the rain continued to pour, but it did.
"Yeah, any time you get a wet game, your fundamentals have to be more laser-sharp," DeAndre Thompkins said, highlighting the need for an increased focus when it comes to catching the ball and looking it in.
The Lions ended with 13 completions of 15-plus yards -- including Thompkins' score of 70 yards -- but they also had that stretch from the first to the third quarter where they had no completions of 15-plus. In the second quarter they had 14 plays for 19 yards and posted no points. Stretches like that are what make this offense so puzzling.
"We play a fast style on offense. I think it took us a little bit to get our feet under us, a quarter or so," Franklin said. "We didn’t have the explosive plays and shots that we’d normally do and then we got them going after that. But obviously we were both playing in the same field and conditions, again, so I don’t want to say that as an excuse."
SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
QUICK HITS
• Grant Haley was not part of the field goal block unit at the end of the game. He told me that the Lions had a specific last-minute block planned for this week that he wasn't part of. Of course, it was Haley who returned the blocked kick against Ohio State last year.
• Ryan Bates and Ryan Buchholz both didn't make the trip and neither did third-string quarterback Sean Clifford. Clifford has made the travel roster in the past ahead of Jake Zembiec, who is injured. The Lions brought Michael Schuster on Saturday, though it's unclear if it was anything more than the Lions wanting to get Schuster some road trip experience.
• Giving up halftime was never a thought from either coaching staff. While the teams had 7-plus minutes left in the half to finish out, getting that break to keep the routine consistent was important.
• Penn State sent staffers to Chick-Fil-A to get the players food during the 3:23 delay.
• DeAndre Thompkins and DaeSean Hamilton both eclipsed 100 yards receiving, the first time the Lions had two receivers cross the century mark since last year's Big Ten title game. Hamilton finished with 7 catches for 112 yards and one touchdown. Thompkins had 4 catches for 102 yards and a score of 70 yards.