STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The issues are hardly new for this 2017 Penn State team, but a phrase James Franklin mentioned back in 2014 about his team rings true now more loudly than ever.
"Winning minimizes the issues, losing magnifies the issues, but winning or losing, the issues are still there," the Lions' head coach said early in the 2014 season.
Now, there's no doubt this team has come a long way since Franklin's first season to now. That's indisputable and it's been a remarkable turnaround in a short amount of time. While the Nittany Lions will have a chance to close out the regular season at 10-2 and still be in the thick of a New Year's Six bowl game, one can't dismiss what's happened in the past two weeks in last-minute losses to quality opponents on the road.
There are seven points separating Penn State from being last year's winner of the Rose Bowl and sitting here today at 9-0 instead of 7-2. The margin is that small with the Lions losing by a field goal in Pasadena, one point to Ohio State and another last-second field goal to Michigan State. The reasons why Penn State lost those three games has some similar themes, notably not being able to run the ball and execute the four-minute offense, coming up on the wrong side of costly turnovers and having defensive collapses that allowed opponents to rip them for 575, 529 and 474 yards of total offense.
The Rose Bowl could be viewed as an isolated example because it was the first time the Lions lost in such a manner under Franklin, and while the majority of key players on that team returned this season and all of the assistants and coordinators were back, it's still a different group this season. Last year's roster undoubtedly overachieved, coming from out of nowhere to win the Big Ten title and go toe-to-toe with USC in the Rose Bowl.
This year, however, sights were set on taking that next step, which for a team that finished No. 5 in the final College Football Playoff rankings meant at least getting into the College Football Playoff. That opportunity was washed out as puddles formed on the field at Spartan Stadium Saturday afternoon during the three hour and 23-minute lightning delay. For a team that's struggled running the ball all season despite having a Heisman Trophy candidate in the backfield in Saquon Barkley, the muddy field meant this line, one that's struggled to gain any traction all season, was destined to struggle again.
After the Spartans celebrated their game-winning field goal, Franklin's strongest statement -- in a post-game news conference where he made many honest comments -- might've been this:
"We're gonna become more of a hard-nosed team on both sides of the ball, offense and defense, tight ends, O-line, running backs. We’re going to be more physical up front and we’re not right now," he said. "We’re too finesse."
At this point in the season with nine games in the books, a team's identity isn't going to change much. They are who they are, and this is a team that's had problems in the trenches on both sides of the ball this season. Losses certainly magnify the problems, but these issues were still here when the Lions rolled to 7-0.
Franklin's desire for his offensive linemen to find this mean streak has been brought up time and time again this season. Who knows if that can be found in the next four games? It's been mentioned several times this season, including in the lead up to the Lions' third game of the season.
"Being able to find offensive linemen that will get on the field and play with a nasty streak and a nasty demeanor, and then be real gentlemen off the field, that's what we want," Franklin said back in September. "We're getting closer to that, but we're still not where I think we can be and where I want to be. ... I think more than anything, it comes with a mentality, we need a little bit more from a football perspective of a killer instinct."
Heading into the Lions' first road game of the season at Iowa, Franklin had a similar criticism of the line once again.
"We've got to be more physical. We've got to impose our will a little bit more consistently," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt about that."
And Saturday night, after the Lions failed to run the ball in the rain, Franklin was asked for his assessment of the ground game once again.
"Saquon didn’t struggle today, our offense struggled at times today and we haven’t been running the ball consistently this year," he said. "It’s not a Saquon issue, it’s a team issue."
See, this problem with the line's mentality and the willingness of all involved to finish blocks, strain longer and run the ball between the tackles has been talked about most of the season. It's hardly new to this team and the same can be said on the other side of the ball where the lack of pass rush was exposed the past two weeks.
Yes, injuries to Torrence Brown and Ryan Buchholz certainly didn't help a line that had to replace both starting ends during the offseason, but Franklin's brutal assessment of the pass rush Saturday night -- whether they send four, five or six guys and still not get to the quarterback --isn't a new problem. It's been here all along.
"We still have to get some guys in a pass rush situation that put the fear in an offensive coordinator or offensive tackle or quarterback's mind," Franklin said after the Lions' season opener against Akron. "That will come."
Or maybe it won't at this point in the year with all the injuries that piled up?
Either way, teams are built in the trenches and Penn State found that out the hard way in the past two games. But, it's not like they were unaware of this critical detail. They just haven't been able to put it all together, whether because of inexperience on the offensive line or injuries on the defensive line. They've recruited well at both spots, but haven't cashed in yet.
"I've been saying this since I got here," Franklin said on Sept. 2, "the game of football is played up front."
EXPLOSIVE PLAY TRACKER
Believe it or not, Penn State did win the chunk play category against Michigan State, 14-12. However, the glaring issue is the number of receptions of 15-plus yards the Lions are surrendering.
Yes, a lot of this comes from the lack of pass rush and some from the coverage that could be better, but a season-high 11 receptions of 15-plus yards were given up against Brian Lewerke and Michigan State. Seven of those receptions came in the first half.
Against good quarterbacks in J.T. Barrett and Lewerke, the Lions are getting ripped. While I expect their numbers will be much more normal in the final three regular season games against Rutgers, Nebraska and Maryland, this secondary was exposed -- and again, let's not dismiss the issues up front -- during this critical three-game stretch.
How does that stack up to the rest of the season?
Penn State defense passes of 15-plus yards surrendered:
vs. Pitt (3)
vs. Georgia State (3)
vs. Iowa (4)
vs. Indiana (4)
vs. Northwestern (3)
vs. Michigan (6)
vs. Ohio State (8, 7 of which came in the second half)
vs. Michigan State (11)
The Lions haven't consistently gotten gashed on the ground this year, with just 25 rushes of 12-plus yards. Only seven of those rushes came in the past three games against Michigan (2), Ohio State (4) and Michigan State (1).
Still, as a team Penn State is 8-1 in the explosive play category this season and leads by a margin of 102-66. In Big Ten games, Penn State leads their opponents in explosive gains, 67-51.
The Lions had a season-high 12 passes of 15-plus yards against Michigan State, with seven on them coming in the first half. The Lions failed to record a reception of 15-plus yards in the second quarter, but still had five in the second half. Despite the conditions they still aired it out -- that's why those trying to pin this loss on quarterback Trace McSorley are mistaken.
Yes, the three interceptions were back breakers but, looking at them again, the argument can be made that really only one of those is on him. He finished with completions on 26-of-47 passes for 381 yards and three touchdowns. The explosive touchdown of 70 yards to DeAndre Thompkins was huge, but drops also hurt McSorley's numbers. Of course Thompkins' drop on 4th and 3 late in the game comes to mind right away. McSorley also accounted for one of the Lions' two rushes of 15-plus yards.
Who is the most explosive pass catcher for Penn State this season? It's DaeSean Hamilton, who added five chunk catches against the Spartans. The breakdown of the Lions' 68 chunk receptions this season:
• Hamilton (22)
• Juwan Johnson (10)
• Barkley (9)
• Mike Gesicki (9)
• Thompkins (7)
• Saeed Blacknall (7)
• Brandon Polk (4)
Thompkins and Blacknall play the same position, which is why it's interesting to see them both have the same number of chunk receptions during a season where Blacknall really has been an afterthought. However, he did break three tackles during a touchdown against Michigan State. Both had explosive touchdowns against the Spartans as Thompkins scored on a 70-yard catch and run.
Who leads in the rushes of 12-plus yards this season? No surprise, it's Barkley. But, his quarterback isn't that far behind which should tell one quite a bit about this team's struggles in the run game.
• Barkley (17)
• McSorley (11)
• Miles Sanders (3)
• Tommy Stevens (2)
• Andre Robinson (1)
WHO MADE THE TRIP?
I included it in the live file, but in case you missed it the Lions had a few interesting names on the travel roster. They like to get each freshman on a road trip to help prepare them for the experience and senior Andrew Nelson didn't play, but made the trip after missing the last two road trips. Injured cornerback John Reid has made every road trip this year and will continue to do so as long as the Lions don't need one of those other 69 spots on the travel roster.
Travel roster breakdown by position:
• QB: 4 (Trace McSorley, Tommy Stevens, Michael Schuster, Billy Fessler)
• WR: 7 (DeAndre Thompkins, DaeSean Hamilton, Saeed Blacknall, Brandon Polk, Irv Charles, Juwan Johnson, Dae'Lun Darien)
• RB: 6 (Saquon Barkley, Andre Robinson, Miles Sanders, Jonathan Thomas, Mark Allen, Josh McPhearson)
• TE: 4 (JonHolland, Nick Bowers, Mike Gesicki, Tom Pancoast)
• OL: 11 (Chasz Wright, Dez Holmes, Steven Gonzalez, Mike Miranda, Will Fries, Brendan Mahon, Connor McGovern, Zach Simpson, Michal Menet, Andrew Nelson, Alex Gellerstedt)
Offense: 32
• DE: 6 (Shaka Toney, Shane Simmons, Colin Costagna, Shareef Miller, Daniel Joseph, Yetur Gross-Matos)
• DT: 7 (Kevin Givens, Parker Cothren, Curtis Cothran, Ellison Jordan, Rob Windsor, Antonio Shelton, Tyrell Chavis)
• LB: 8 (Koa Farmer, Cam Brown, Jake Cooper, Jan Johnson, Jason Cabinda, Manny Bowen, Brandon Smith, Jarvis Miller)
• CB: 7 (Christian Campbell, Tariq Castro-Fields, Zech McPhearson, Grant Haley, Amani Oruwariye, John Reid, Lamont Wade)
• Saf.: 5 (Marcus Allen, Nick Scott, Garrett Taylor, Ayron Monroe, Troy Apke)
Defense: 33
• Punter: 2 (Blake Gillikin, Daniel Pasquariello)
• Kicker: 2 (Tyler Davis, Alex Barbir)
• Snapper: 1 (Kyle Vasey)
Special teams: 5
THREE UP
• DaeSean Hamilton had seven catches for 112 yards against Michigan State and it was his third game this season with 100-plus yards. He also did so against Indiana (9/122/3 TDs) and Michigan (6/115). Hamilton's explosive receptions are through the roof and he had receptions of 15, 31, 17, 19 and 22 yards in this one. Four of those explosive gains, including his 31-yard touchdown, came in the first quarter.
• Amani Oruwariye made the grab of the game on an interception midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Lions the ball back with the game tied at 24. While it was all for nothing as the next drive resulted in the 4th-down drop by Thompkins, Oruwariye's picks have been some of the most impressive grabs this season. While I'm hard pressed to highlight a corner after the secondary was shredded and had no help up front, that's too big of a play to dismiss. He also had an eye-popping four pass breakups.
• Blake Gillikin was dealt far from ideal conditions and had four punts for 156 yards (39 average) and placed two inside the 20. With a long of 52 yards, the Lions' special teams ace continues doing all he can to be a difference maker.
THREE DOWN
• Pass rush: OK, this is an obvious one, but until they can get anything going up front the Lions are going to be in for some really long games. Shareef Miller has been a pleasant surprise this season, but Shaka Toney, Shane Simmons, Yetur Gross-Matos and tackle-turned-end Kevin Givens will have to step up. It's a tough spot for inexperienced players to be put in. Givens did well in his switch outside and could've made the three up list.
• Juwan Johnson's production this season seems to have slowed. After much talk all offseason about him being ready to be the guy in the receiving corps, his last three games in this big-time stretch resulted in just eight catches for 86 yards. While this offense highlights different players seemingly every week, it's looked like Johnson has struggled to get separation recently, something to keep an eye on down the stretch as the 6-4, 226-pound receiver who saved the season at Iowa could be poised for a rebound against Rutgers. Keep in mind, Johnson is a New Jersey product and his big brother used to play for the Scarlet Knights.
• Offensive line: Another easy target, but not being able to consistently run the ball at this point in the season, especially on the road in the rain, is a real problem. Having their toughness and nastiness questioned by their head coach after the game is the harsh reality of where this group is at. It's the first game where Barkley didn't have a Heisman moment as the former frontrunner is now trailing Baker Mayfield for the award.