Giger: Past offenses took chances deep, and this one needs to

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Yeah, James Franklin sure roasted that reporter who asked a dumb question about Penn State's complete and total lack of a deep passing game -- or even attempt at a deep passing game.

Before we get to Franklin murdering that poor sap, who just so happened to be me, here are some numbers:

Penn State ranks 104th in the nation in passing yards per completion (10.81). Ohio State is 17th (14.56), Michigan is 41st (13.25).

Penn State is 87th in yards per play, at 5.1. Michigan is 11th (6.9), Ohio State is 20th (6.5). The Lions finished 26th in that category last year, at 6.1, so they're down a full yard per play.

Penn State is 49th in passing efficiency. Michigan is 7th, Ohio State 28th.

Through five games, Drew Allar has attempted exactly two deep passes: One 33-yard completion to Liam Clifford late in the first half at Illinois, and one slight overthrow to Dante Cephas in the end zone at Northwestern.

And yet, ALL we keep hearing about is this:

"We need to be more explosive." -- Franklin in pretty much every press conference.

Allar has been phenomenal at protecting the ball. Absolutely incredible. Give the young man major props, as he's thrown 158 passes without an interception as a first-year starter. Again, that is tremendous.

But as the stats show, Allar is primarily throwing very short passes. Those passes, of course, have far less chance of getting intercepted. They also have far less chance of turning into an explosive play.

There have been numerous plays -- as I've written about several times recently -- where Allar had a receiver breaking free and didn't throw the ball. Instead, he took a checkdown throw. The checkdown has become a staple of Penn State's offense.

Yes, the offense has topped 30 points in every game, running its streak to 12, which is the longest in the nation. The Lions' fantastic defense is a big, big part of that, however, thanks to forcing turnovers and giving the offense many prime scoring opportunities.

Does anybody honestly believe this offense is going to be overly effective when the real schedule starts in two weeks with a visit to Ohio State, and then later on against Michigan?

OK, so my theory is that the coaches need to turn Allar loose, give him more opportunities to throw deep. Furthermore, have him take those shots regardless from time to time, even if the receiver is in tight coverage, and trust that his guy can make a play.

I tried to ask Franklin about just that Tuesday.

The wording of my question wasn't great. I'll admit that. I thought I got my point across, and that's up for anyone else to decide.

Here's the full exchange, and as you can see from the Twitter post, apparently Franklin murdered me.

I'll tell ya, I got a kick out of the "speaking Japanese" part. That's pretty clever. Even if I think Franklin is pretty much full of it in his ridiculous response.

To try and claim that Penn State has never done EXACTLY what I asked him about with the passing game during his tenure is ludicrous. Go back to 2016 and '17 under Joe Moorhead, and that is precisely why the Lions were so good on offense -- because McSorley would frequently just chuck the ball deep and let his outstanding receivers try to make a play.

Let's go to the videotape:

• McSorley to Chris Godwin in the Rose Bowl.

• McSorley to Mike Gesicki against Temple. Note how in the tweet the person points out "how he trusted his guys when they were one on one."

• Again, McSorley to Godwin in the Rose Bowl.

• McSorley to Godwin against Ohio State.

• McSorley to Gesicki against Michigan State.

• And for good measure, here's Sean Clifford to Jahan Dotson on the plays that broke Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade.

All of those were trust throws, made by quarterbacks who loved throwing the ball deep and were given many, many chances to do just that during their Penn State careers. And McSorley was especially good at those, in large part because he had great weapons to go up and catch the ball.

It got to the point where, in April of 2017, Moorhead had to defend McSorley because there had been a growing negative that the QB's best trait was just chucking the ball down the field.

Here's what Moorhead said:

“You know kind of this thought process that's prevailing that you hear about — and frankly, this is gross mischaracterization, number one, of the application of our offense and the role of the quarterback — that Trace just drops back and picks the deepest receiver and chucks the ball up and hopes the guy makes the play,” Moorhead said. “That's, in a lot of ways, ridiculous at best and, quite frankly, asinine at worst.”

Yes, it was asinine to think that all McSorley could do was chuck it up and hope for the best. He was good at those throws -- and they worked well for Penn State -- because it was all part of the Lions' system and they had great wideouts. Godwin wasn't catching 50-50 balls; those contested balls were more like 75-25 for him because he was so good at bringing them in.

Penn State doesn't have those kind of wide receivers this year. It also has a young quarterback in Allar who is still learning the college game.

I get all that, believe me. I don't expect Allar to just fire the ball down the field all the time and hope for the best.

But again, for Franklin to claim that Penn State's offense has never used that strategy is bogus, plain and simple. For him to say the question made him "uncomfortable" was silly.

What should make Franklin uncomfortable is the possibility that his offense has some serious issues that must be addressed. Because if he thinks the Lions are going to be able to drive the field consistently on Ohio State and Michigan without taking some deep shots -- which he himself keeps talking about -- then all this talk about a possible College Football Playoff berth will be silenced in a hurry.

Domo arigato!