Penn State Football Inside the Numbers: Comparing this year’s offense to last year
Penn State football has continued to be one of the top offenses in the nation this season.
Last season, the Nittany Lions surprised a lot of people by how well they played on offense. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead did an excellent job of turning Penn State into a potent offensive unit. The offense continued to grow this season and put up even better numbers in most areas than a year ago.
In fact, the job Moorhead did in such a short amount of time with the Penn State offense landed him a new position as the head coach at Mississippi State.
Penn State saw an improvement in two big areas that were already good last year.
This year, the Nittany Lions ranked 29th during the regular season in total offense with an average of 453.3 yards per game. That number was up from 430 yards a game in 2016. Penn State also saw a dramatic rise in points per game this year. The Nittany Lions are ranked seventh with 41.6 points a game. In 2015 they averaged just 23 points, while last year they averaged 37.
Another number that jumps off the page when compared to last year is third-down conversions. Despite all the success last season, Penn State was successful on third down just 32 percent of the time. That made the Nittany Lions one of the worst teams in FBS on third down.
This season, Penn State has vastly improved it’s third-down conversion rate. Through 12 regular season games the Nittany Lions rank 23rd in the nation, converting 45 percent of third downs.
Passing yards have also been up this year, with the Nittany Lions averaging nearly 285 yards per game, up from 261 in 2016. However, the big play dropped a bit this year — down to 12.75 yards per pass. That number was at 16 last season.
One area that struggled this season was the offensive line. After showing noticeable improvement a season ago, even better things were expected from the unit this year. However, inconsistent play up front led to too many negative plays. After allowing 21 sacks in 13 games last year, the Nittany Lions have already allowed 28 through 12 games this season.
Due to inconsistencies on the offensive line, the run game, despite having one of the top backs in the country in Saquon Barkley, struggled at times. Penn State has averaged 167.4 yards per game this year, compared to 169 last season.
Next: Two Nittany Lions to transfer out of the program
Overall, this season has been statistically better for the Nittany Lions on offense when compared to last season. Hence, it was another 10-win regular season. While the Nittany Lions may have come up short of the high expectations heading into the season, 2017 has still be very impressive in Happy Valley.