As offense finds itself, Nittany Lions just keep rolling with defense

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- There's a whole lot to like about this Penn State football team, but there's also some things that are simply going to have to improve in order to live up to the lofty expectations this season.

For instance, below is what the offense could and really should look like -- prized young quarterback throwing a gorgeous pass and receiver making a terrific catch -- but there just hasn't been enough of this kind of stuff just yet.

Instead, the No. 7 Nittany Lions have utilized a ball-control offense that's generally lacked big plays, and that was largely the case again in Saturday's comfortable 30-13 win over Illinois in the Big Ten opener.

It hasn't mattered so much, though, that the offense still has to find its footing to a degree. Because the highly touted defense has the ability to dominate opponents and keep the team in any game. With plays like this:

That was one of four interceptions and five turnovers forced by Penn State's defense, a unit that entered the season with a chance to be the best in the nation. The starting defense played like that in controlling the game Saturday.

"I told ya'll last year, once one person gets one (a turnover), it's dangerous. We all start feeding off it," said cornerback Johnny Dixon, who had one of the four interceptions.

Time and time again, the defense kept taking the ball away and setting up the offense with great field position. The Lions forced turnovers on three consecutive possessions in the first quarter, with the offense scoring 10 points off the takeaways.

Given all those turnovers, one might have figured Penn State had badgered the Illini by 30 or 40 points. And while the game wasn't quite as close as the final score -- Illinois reached the end zone against the second-string defense late -- it still wasn't a total domination, because the offense had some issues with the Illini defense.

Many people expected this game to be a big test for Penn State, which was playing on the road for the first time. It also marked the first road start and Big Ten start for Allar, and he had his share of ups and downs. The sophomore completed just 16 of 33 passes for 208 yards with no TDs or interceptions.

Allar was off target for much of the day, and faced a good bit of pressure and tough throws.

"By no means was it perfect, especially offensively," Allar said. "But at the end of the day, we got we came for and are going home with W, and that's all that matters to us."

That's also all that matters to James Franklin, who has noted several times now that all he cares about is for his team to find different ways to win each week.

"I just got done talking to the team, and the first thing (I told them) is that it was a pretty Big Ten win on the road," Franklin said. "You got to appreciate winning. It's hard to do if you watch college football. Each week there's games that there's upsets and things you got to grind it out. So that was a big time win for us on the road.

"It was beautiful to me."

The coach had a whole lot to be impressed by with his stingy defense. Illinois drove the field on its first possession but missed a field goal, then Penn State's defense took command and controlled things outside of one nice Illini TD drive in the second quarter.

"We just want to get the ball in offense's hands as many times as possible," Dixon said of the forced turnovers.

"Once we see one of our guys get one, it just hypes the whole defense up, so we'll just be getting antsy for it and we just can't wait for the ball to come."

For Franklin and the Penn State coaches, this was another game where they saw a lot of things that need to be cleaned up, but yet nothing so bad that it ever put the Lions in a position where they could actually lose.

"Obviously there's going to be a ton of stuff to clean up from the game," Franklin said. "But I mean, defense stepped up huge -- five forced turnovers is huge for us.

"Obviously offense, we got to do a better job of converting those turnovers into points."

Allar pointed out that, despite scoring 101 points the first two games, "We've had a lot of stuff to clean up."

"Nothing has been perfect so far," he added. "I'm just looking forward to watching the film and getting to see like, what I missed and what we could do better as an offense. And I think just looking forward with a positive mindset."

There's one glaring issue with the offense that was not really corrected Saturday, which I had envisioned could happen. The deep passing game still seems relatively non-existent, with Allar once again throwing mostly underneath stuff instead of taking shots down the field.

He did have the one great pass up above to Clifford, which set up a field goal in the closing seconds of the first half for a 16-7 lead.

But aside from that, Allar didn't attempt another deep pass. All of that is unusual because the deep ball has been such a big part of the Lions' offense for most of the past decade.

There are two issues here.

First, Allar is making smart decisions by not forcing deep throws when he's got guys running free on short routes. That can lead to a lot of success for an offense.

However, once you get into the Big Ten and defenses get a lot tougher, sustaining a bunch of long scoring drives can be more and more difficult. One penalty or one negative-yardage play can kill a drive if you're not looking to go for bigger gains more often.

"Obviously we want to take shots as an offense, but at the end of the day, it's about being efficient," Allar said. "And when we take the checkdowns, take the shorter stuff, that means the defense is gonna have to respect it. At some point they're gonna have to come up.

"The last three weeks there's been a post safety literally like 30 yards in the middle of the field that can go sideline to sideline, so those (deep) shots aren't there all the time. So, it's just got to be taken advantage of what the defense gives us each week. And then if they want to start coming down and playing a little bit more aggressive to stop the run, then we'll be able to take our shots over the top."

The offense finished with 164 yards rushing, a solid total helped out by backup QB Beau Pribula running a lot when he got a chance to play most of the fourth quarter. Pribula finished with 47 yards on nine carries, while Kaytron Allen led the team with 54 yards on 13 carries.

The best play by a running back, though, had nothing to do with running the ball. Third-string tailback Trey Potts threw this TD pass to tight end Tyler Warren, on a beautiful play call by Mike Yurcich.

Potts noted after the game that he had never thrown a pass in a game at any level of football. So, his first was very memorable.

“It was just something we threw together,” Potts said of the play.

"I never played quarterback, but it worked out. We practice it. It was dialed up at the right time."

If you had bet on a running back finishing with more TD passes than Allar, that could have made a lot of money.

"That was a dime. Great pass," Allen said of his fellow running back. "We've been running it (in practice), and it just so happen to come out today."

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INJURY REPORT

• WR Malik McClain started in place of Harrison Wallace III, who was listed as questionable before the game and didn't play.

• Also, WR Malick Meiga was out with an injury.

THE SCHEDULE

Penn State hosts Iowa next Saturday night at 7:30 in the annual whiteout game.

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