EVANSTON, Ill. -- "That was one ugly rout!"
That comment, apropos of everything, came from a reader in our live file, and perfectly described Penn State's 41-13 win over Northwestern on Saturday at Ryan Field.
If you didn't watch the game, you'd think the No. 6 Nittany Lions won easily.
If you did watch the game, your mouth might still hurt from feeling like you were pulling teeth all day.
Penn State was asleep at the wheel in the first half, fumbling the opening kickoff at 11 a.m. local time, falling behind 10-3 and going into the locker room at the half in a 10-10 gridlock.
Against Northwestern, mind you, a program marred by scandal and so uninteresting that only 25,000 fans bothered to show up for the game -- with close to half the crowd being Penn State fans.
This was a game Penn State was supposed to win in blowout fashion.
And yes, it did indeed pass the scoreboard test in a big way, albeit while failing significant portions of the eye test.
"You're gonna have to win throughout a season a lot of different ways," James Franklin said afterward. "We've been able to do that the first five weeks of the season."
Penn State can win comfortably against just about anybody because of its suffocating defense. But during this 5-0 start, there's been a lot of questions about just how good the offense really is, or is not.
One commenter in our live file asked if the offense is just saving things for Ohio State in a few weeks. Like, maybe the team is holding back parts of the playbook or something.
But no. That's not really been the case.
This ... is it.
What we've been seeing -- and what we saw again Saturday -- appears to be exactly what this offense truly is right now. And that's gotta be a bit of a concern, whether Franklin or anyone else in the program wants to admit it.
Drew Allar wasn't sharp, completing 18 of 33 passes for 189 yards and one TD. The running game averaged just 3.4 yards per carry. The wide receivers couldn't get much separation. There were no explosive plays, although finally we did at least see Allar get to take a deep shot to the end zone, which he barely overthrew to Dante Cephas.
Sure, the Lions scored 41 points. But a big part of that was Northwestern going for it on fourth down twice from around its own 30-yard line, with Penn State coming up with the stop for great field position that led to 10 easy points.
The final touchdown was a highly debatable play call that smacked of running up the score, as Beau Pribula threw a 30-yard TD pass on a gimmick play with 2:20 remaining.
This was still a game deep into the third quarter, despite Northwestern's offense doing very little against the Lions' defense. That's because Penn State's offense once again left a whole lot to be desired.
Last week, Franklin talked about how the team can't get "bored" sticking to a methodical style of play. If it's working, it's working. But it didn't work all that well for a good bit of Saturday's game, particularly in the first half, which is perplexing to say the least.
"I mean, 31 points in the second half is something to be really proud of," Allar said. "Obviously the first half did not go the way we wanted. But I felt like we did good did a good job of just chopping wood and just keep pressing."
That was an interesting phrase -- "chopping wood" -- and I asked Allar a couple minutes later to discuss the concept of doing that as opposed to what so many keep expecting the offense to do, which is start making explosive plays, as Franklin keeps talking about.
"Obviously we want to be as explosive as we can as an offense, that's always the goal," Allar said. "But I missed some opportunities in the first half to be explosive, like the one I missed to Tyler Warren, that would have been easy explosive, probably like a 20-yard yard gain if I just put it on his shoulder and don't don't lead him too far.
"So I mean, you could say all you want about not being explosive, but I don't think people really realize how close we are to breaking a lot of things off. Maybe it's one missed block here, or one missed assignment here or missed throws by me. I had plenty of them today. So, it's all things that we can clean up, it really just comes down to timing."
One big question with the offense is: Are we just nitpicking, looking for potential flaws on a team that is 5-0, has won every game comfortably and has covered the Vegas spread in all five games? Oh, and the Lions have reached 30 points in 12 consecutive games, the longest streak in the nation.
Some people will say yes, that all of this is just nitpicking.
But again, if you watch the games, watch a lot of the bad throws or runs that get stuffed or missed opportunities, it's a lot easier to come to the conclusion that the offense has some serious things to clean up.
It hasn't mattered yet, not against the teams Penn State has played so far. But the lingering question of whether it will matter against Ohio State and Michigan is really the issue.
Penn State is beating all of these teams so badly because its defense is awesome, so there's no pressure on the offense to have to save the day. Even Saturday, after falling behind 10-3, the Lions' defense seemed to get ticked off and took control of the game with 6-yard losses on the first play of back-to-back Northwestern series that went three and out.
At that point, there was no doubt that the Wildcats were in big trouble and would have a hard time moving the ball anymore. That's exactly what happened.
Given all that, I asked Franklin about having such a great defense and what that does to the offense. The good news is that the offense hasn't really had to be efficient for the team to win big, but the flip side is we haven't seen enough of what the offense can do yet.
"I think your point is a good one," Franklin acknowledged. "We gotta be more explosive. We gotta be more consistent. But again, there's a bunch of stats that I can I can throw out there to you that I think a lot of programs around the country would be pretty excited about. You talk about scoring 30 points, I think we're leading the country in consecutive games over 30 points.
"So yeah, it's your guys' job and my job to kind of boil this thing down and critique some of the areas that we gotta get better. And there's going to be some games that we're going to have to score some more points, there's no doubt about it. But again, I think we're playing really good complementary football right now, and we're happy to be 1-0."
The Lions lost a couple of key offensive players during the game, as starting left guard JB Nelson was injured in the first quarter and running back Kaytron Allen in the second quarter. Neither player returned to the game.
Nicholas Singleton led the Lions with 80 yards rushing on 21 carries, a 3.8 average against a Northwestern defense that came into the game ranked last in the Big Ten against the rush.
Singleton's day started off on a bad note as he fumbled the opening kickoff, gifting Northwestern three points after Penn State's defense held.
"Northwestern, credit to them, they are obviously good team, it's Big Ten football," Singleton said. "It's my fault at the end of the day. I just gotta hold the ball tight, cap the ball in traffic."
Losing Allen created an opportunity for third-string tailback Trey Potts to play more, and he cashed in on that opportunity by scoring two TDs. His first score, a 13-yard run with 1:16 left in the second quarter, made it a 10-10 game at the half.
Potts later scored the final touchdown of the game, catching a 30-yard pass from Pribula with 2:20 remaining.
Potts has turned out to be a good addition for the Lions, transferring in after playing four seasons at Minnesota. He could end up being a bigger factor if Allen is injured for any length of time, although Penn State does have a bye week coming up.
Potts is very thankful to be getting an expanded opportunity after taking a chance coming to Penn State when there were already two established tailbacks on the roster.
"Yeah, it means a lot," he said. "These guys are my brothers. They welcomed me and embraced me quick. So for me, when my opportunity comes, I'm just trying to get on the field and do anything I can to help this team win."
"Trey stepped up big time," Singleton said. "He's that type of player, man. We talked to each other in the locker room after the game, he's not waiting for nobody. He's gonna come in, step up and make an impact for this team, which he did today. So, I'm very proud of him."
In some ways, this season is shaping up a little bit like the 2016 season for Penn State. The team often struggled in the first half that season, then regrouped at halftime and came out and throttled people in the second half.
This Lions team has been doing just that, and did so again in the third quarter Saturday by outscoring Northwestern, 17-0.
"That was my message to the team -- the first half is gone, let's let's play really well the second half," Franklin said. "I think it ended up 31-3 in the second half.
"Overall, very pleased. Very pleased with the win," Franklin added. "Come on the road in the Big Ten, get a win."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Team feed
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURIES
• RB Kaytron Allen was injured late in the first half and did not return. He was on the sideline without his helmet in the second half. Trey Potts took his place.
• LG JB Nelson was shaken up in the first quarter and was carted off the field to the locker room. He was replaced by Vega Ioane.
THE SCHEDULE
Penn State has a bye next week. The next game will be at home against UMass on Oct. 14.
THE CONTENT
Visit the Penn State team page for all of our coverage.
