Penn State Football: What can McSorley do in year three?
In two years, Trace McSorley has accounted for 75 total touchdowns. Penn State football needs him to do that and more in year three to get into the playoff.
An outstanding career for Trace McSorley comes to a close in just 13-15 games this coming fall. McSorley’s magic has produced mostly positive moments for the program. Regardless, the 2018 college football holds more significance than anything prior. Penn State football returns a lot of quality players. If they want a shot at a national championship, they need him to find another gear.
Sophomore year
In year one as a starter, he played a bit of hero ball, launching deep balls into the teeth of Big Ten defenses. It wasn’t because of arrogance in his abilities but rather his gunslinging mentality. In his defense, the offense moved the ball well and operated with multiple weapons that thrived on his downfield attack.
Obviously, the end of the season wasn’t his best game. His at-times gutsy throws got him in trouble against USC. He tossed four touchdowns to make up for his three interceptions, but it wasn’t enough.
Junior year
His second season as the team’s starter looked a lot cleaner. The team didn’t quite have the same explosiveness, but he played smarter. He learned from his mistakes against USC. McSorley tossed fewer dangerous passes and increased his completion percentage by almost nine points to 66.5.
Furthermore, he eliminated his struggles against tougher defenses, taking what opposing teams gave him instead of going for it all. In the end, he played an efficient game against Washington 32-of-41 for 342 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
However, all his progress struggled to sustain itself in a rain-drenched loss to Michigan State. He tossed three picks in the loss and show some regression with overthrown balls and poor decision-making. McSorley’s games against the Spartans and Ohio State resulted in losses and he struggled with inconsistency in the passing game.
What to improve on
He played well enough against the Buckeyes to get a win, but he faltered late and that carried over the following game. The blame doesn’t all fall on him. The offensive line didn’t protect well and his receivers dropped a few catchable balls. With that said, he could certainly have played better in both games.
He made some big time plays down the stretch, but he also took a huge sack, a tackle for loss and tossed two incompletions to end the game. Those would’ve been difficult to hit, but he had his chances there and earlier in the game. His missed a throw high around 1:00 minute mark to the 6-foot-6 Mike Gesicki and threw behind Juwan Johnson. His game against MSU saw similar plays putting too much air on the ball and sailing it over his receivers. (Video Courtesy of Cut Up Corner).
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As noted by his improvement from sophomore to junior, there’s no reason he can’t make the adjustment to shine in big games this fall. Penn State football’s success depends on him, and they’ll need him to make that jump.