ALTOONA, Pa. -- Think on this for a moment: What does Penn State's offense do really well? As in, one big thing the Nittany Lions can hang their hat on at any given time?
Don't rack your brain too hard here, reaching for answers that simply don't exist.
There are a couple of things, actually, which I'll get to in a second. But as you'll see, even those things don't change one simple fact.
Penn State's offense is surprisingly easy to prepare for.
OK, these are the two areas you can point to most with regards to strengths of the offense.
• Time of possession
• The tight ends
Now, time of possession might be the single most meaningless stat in football. Because usually, the best teams have explosive offenses that score quickly, and therefore will often have lackluster TOP figures even in blowout victories. For instance, in a 63-0 win over UMass, Penn State lost the TOP (32:58 to 27:02).
Penn State ranks sixth in the nation in TOP, at 33 minutes per game. Georgia, the No. 1 team in the polls, ranks fifth, but the only other really good team among the top 20 in that stat is Michigan (at No. 15).
The Lions are good in this category, which can pay off in some grind-it-out games. But in reality, most offensive coordinators couldn't care less if they're in the top 10 here or not.
Penn State does have good tight ends in Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren. James Franklin has talked about it a good bit all season, noting the ability to go with a two tight end set to make up for the struggles at wide receiver.
If I had to pick, I'd say the tight end situation is probably the best thing about the offense.
However ...
Let's not get carried away here thinking that the Lions' tight ends are awesome or anything. Johnson (20) and Warren (19) have combined for 39 catches, which is one less than Georgia star Brock Bowers, who's injured and has played seven games. Bowers also has 567 yards receiving, while Johnson and Warren combined have 392. In fairness, Penn State's tight ends have caught 10 touchdowns (Warren 5, Johnson 3, Khalil Dinkins 2), far more than Bowers' 4.
But against Ohio State, in an abysmal offensive performance, Penn State's tight ends combined for just three catches for 50 yards. So you see, it's not like they changed the game in a big way in the most important game of the season thus far.
Overall, Penn State ranks 66th in the nation in total offense, averaging 392.8 yards per game. Keep in mind, too, that's even after the benefit of playing both FCS Delaware and struggling UMass, and scoring 63 points in each game.
Looking elsewhere at the offense:
• The wide receiver situation is a gigantic mess, and may not get better at all now that Harrison Wallace III was injured Saturday. Franklin, who had no update on Wallace's status, spent a whole bunch of his press conference Tuesday answering questions about the wide receiver issues, repeating what he's said numerous times about how it all comes down to consistency.
Here's what he had to say about Malik McClain in that regard:
"Malik McClain, I think is like a lot of these guys. I think I've spoke a bunch about Malik and how he's been since he joined our program. One of the harder working guys on our team. Always a smile on his face. He's been very impactful on special teams. And on offense, in practice and in games has shown some really good signs.
"But it's about consistency. I think that's really kind of always the measuring stick, not just for wide receivers but at every position. The guys that are starting or playing significant reps are the guys that have shown the most consistency in practice and shown the most consistency in games."
• The offensive line has been a disappointment. Expectations were extremely high, and the group has been slightly above average at best, and far below average at times.
"What happens specifically with the offensive line is, I don't care what offensive line you're playing or what quarterback is back there, if you're not good enough on first and second down and you're in obvious passing situations and people can just tee off on you and twist and game, that's challenging on the best offensive line.
"So, we got to manage it as coaches. The players have to execute to allow us to stay ahead of the sticks. I mean, you look at some of the best sack teams in the country. That's a stat that can be skewed because they don't throw it, and when they do it's typically manageable third-down situations."
• The running back production has dropped from last year, with Nicholas Singleton's dropoff and inability to break off any long runs being a glaring concern.
The running backs have been decent, which has led to the time of possession strength. But so, so much more was expected, particularly from Singleton. If he’s not going to be breaking off long runs, then the Lions are better off keeping Kaytron Allen on the field more.
• Drew Allar's inconsistent play, poor mechanics and struggles on the road should be a bigger concern than most are letting on. More on Allar in a bit.
When you add all of these issues up, and look at things from an opposing defensive coordinator's perspective, it becomes clear that Penn State's offense doesn't really strike a lot of fear into you.
The Lions have scored a lot of points, sure, but they've also benefited greatly from a stellar defense that has shut down most opponents and put the offense in great positions all season.
While that's been good enough for a 7-1 record, it wasn't anywhere near good enough in a 20-12 loss at Ohio State, and it's hard to believe it will be anywhere near good enough next week against Michigan. The Wolverines, by the way, now have the nation's No. 1 defense statistically after Penn State struggled a bit against Indiana.
Franklin was asked Tuesday how he would evaluate offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich's play calling, which has been suspect, to say the least, at times.
Franklin gave a bit of a rambling response, pointing out that all of the various issues have made things challenging.
"There is a lot to evaluate, right?" he said. "The depth and the consistency at wide receiver. How we're using our tight ends. The run game and where we're at, whether they're explosive runs or not. here we at from a production in the Big Ten in terms of stats, production, whatever it may be. In terms of points, what are we doing from a points perspective? In terms of turnovers, as you know, we talked a ton about-turn overs and explosive plays.
"I think for the most part, I feel good," Franklin later added about Yurcich. "Obviously we'll dig into all these things after the season. I'm not in the business of mid-season or three quarters of the season getting into evaluations of the staff. I don't think that's appropriate. I don't think that's the right thing when we're focused on Maryland this week.
"Again, when you take all the things into consideration, there are some metrics that we feel really good about and that you guys say nice things about, and there are some metrics that aren't, that we have to continue to work on."
Looking at Allar, one big issue that needs to be addressed is this: Does Franklin know what to do with a pure pocket passer?
It's probably unfair to spend much time comparing the Christian Hackenberg and Allar situations, because it's really apples and oranges. The Lions did not have a whole lot of talent around Hackenberg in 2014 and '15, when Franklin first took over as head coach.
The common tie, though, is that Hackenberg was a pocket passer who didn't run much, and the quarterback never lived up to his potential under Franklin.
Trace McSorley came along in 2016, and all of a sudden, Penn State had the right QB and the right system under Joe Moorhead to make it all work. But if you remember, it took a few games into that 2016 season for McSorley to understand when he needed to take off and run, and once he did that, the offense became a juggernaut.
For all the things many people criticized Sean Clifford for during his tenure, he was always a better runner than most gave him credit for. His instincts about when to take off were usually pretty good.
One huge problem with the current offense is that Allar is not much of a threat to run at all. He has 61 yards rushing this year -- that's taking sacks into account -- and he doesn't seem very willing yet to take off and run.
Maybe Allar will get more comfortable with that at some point. And with his size (6-5, 243), he's shown that he can be tough to bring down.
But as things stand, defenses know Allar isn't going to run much, so they really don't even have to game plan for it. They can largely ignore him and just focus in on Singleton and Allen, which makes things tougher for those running backs.
Again, all of that stuff makes this a much, much easier offense to prepare for than, say, that 2016 Lions squad.
"When you talk about the mobility of Trace and quarterbacks we've had in the past, that opens up a part of the playbook and also changes how people defend you," Franklin said. "People are less bold when you have a quarterback that has the ability to beat you with their feet. They're more cautious about some of the blitzes and defenses and things that they'll call against you."
There's been so much talk about the lack of explosive plays in the passing game, but the running game hasn't produced many either. And when the defense doesn't have to worry about that, repeat after me again, it makes your offense easier to prepare for.
"When you're able to complete a ball like we did with KeAndre, the more times you can put that on tape, that affects the defense very similar to a mobile quarterback," Franklin said. "It gives them things that they fear, that defenses fear."
So far, this offense hasn't struck a lot of fear into opposing defenses. The Lions have one more week to figure some things out against Maryland, then they're going to have to be able to do something -- anything -- that makes things difficult for Michigan's defense next week if they hope to win that huge game.
