Penn State Football: QB Report Post Pittsburgh 2018

Drops and a few missed throws plagued his stat line, but Trace McSorley got it done again. Penn State football came away with the win and rose in the polls.

Through two games, the biggest stat for Penn State football quarterback Trace McSorley has to be zero turnovers. In his 82 plays he has been responsible for, he’s yet to throw a pick or lose a fumble. He went through turnover struggles at times in his first two years, but he’s cut the turnovers back and kept the production there. McSorley accomplished that yet again Saturday in Pittsburgh, avenging the loss from two years ago with a 51-6 trouncing of the Panthers.

GAME STATS: 14-for-30, 145 yards, two touchdowns; 5 carries, 36 yards, one touchdown

As I discussed above, the stat line didn’t look pretty, but McSorley recorded three total touchdowns and no turnovers for the second consecutive week. He didn’t put the ball in harm’s way and would’ve had a higher completion percentage and more yards had his receivers caught more on-target passes.

Drops headlined the game, but he did get some more great plays from new freshman receiver KJ Hamler. The burner and all-around weapon has three total touchdowns to his name on just eight touches. He’ll continue to see his play calls go up as his season continues. McSorley sees his potential and has connected with him seven times in the first two weeks.

In addition to their connection, he added Mac Hippenhammer into the mix with an 11-yard touchdown pass to the redshirt freshman in the fourth quarter. Through the first two games, he’s done a good job of spreading the ball around and making it difficult for defenses to key on one receiver. He’s completed passes to nine different players including four receivers, three tight ends and two running backs.

Overall, he deserves an A-minus grade for his second outing the season. He managed the game well and if it hadn’t been for a few drops this grade could be higher.

He’s been asked to carry the offense and he has so far without a real field stretcher. He’s having to dink and dunk teams with consistent accuracy – that might be even more impressive than completing 50-50 balls that his now-graduated, NFL-bound receivers could come down with.

Backup QB Sean Clifford also completed his first career pass, and it only went for a 34-yard touchdown to Brandon Polk. He gave Penn State football fans some more hope for the future even after Tommy Stevens graduates. It was another solid week for the PSU QBs.

McSorley SEASON STATS: 34-of-65, 374 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions; 89 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns

McSorley CAREER STATS: 24-5 career record, 7,744 passing yards, 61.2 completion percentage, 62 touchdowns, 18 interceptions; 988 rushing yards, 21 rushing touchdowns