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Penn State Football: Quarterback Report Post Bye Week 2018

By Collin Wieder

STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 01: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions rushes for a 12 yard touchdown in the first quarter against the Appalachian State Mountaineers on September 1, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 01: Trace McSorley #9 of the Penn State Nittany Lions rushes for a 12 yard touchdown in the first quarter against the Appalachian State Mountaineers on September 1, 2018 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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Penn State football’s quarterback room looks to return to full strength for next week. Along with Trace McSorley leading the room, Tommy Stevens is back.

Heisman hopeful Trace McSorley has lived up to the hype as the leading man in Penn State football’s offense. Even with his superstar performance through five games, he needs more help in order to reach the college football playoff.

As PennLive pointed out this week, the Nittany Lions’ receivers have dropped 12 passes this season. After adjusting the completion numbers for McSorley, his percentage jumps from 53 to 62 and his TD-to-INT ratio moves to 12-to-1 instead of 10-to-2.

Looking forward, obviously this is something the offense hopes to remedy. The receivers can’t keep dropping on-target passes and expect to beat teams like Michigan State, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Maybe one thing that will help is the full return of Tommy Stevens as the starting Lion. I know he hasn’t done a whole lot at the position over the last two games (six touches for minus-13 yards), but he did add a nice wrinkle at times last year. He’s been a quality player in the red zone and when he’s in defenses have to shift if he goes in motion, because he’s scored off the jet sweep before.

The junior QB (Stevens) only adds to a quarterback room that already contains a great player like McSorley and a rising third-string QB in Sean Clifford. It’s arguably the best quarterback depth chart in college football. Entering this week against Michigan State, it’ll need another star-studded performance to come out with a win.

The Spartans are just 3-2 so far on the young season, but it’s a bounce-back game for McSorley. A contest that he threw three interceptions in last year. He’ll be out to prove that game was a fluke and in the process break the all-time career passing record.

McSorley needs only 39 yards to break the record and must throw one touchdown to become the first player in the 70-touchdown pass club in Penn State’s history. All the records are his to break at this point and he’ll set many marks that will be tough to break.

Next. Penn State Football: Nittany Lions move up in AP Poll after bye week. dark

McSorley SEASON STATS: 4-1, 2018 record; 74-of-139, 1,050 yards, 10 touchdowns, two interceptions; 410 rushing yards, six rushing touchdowns, 6,2 yards per carry; 1,460 total yards, 16 total touchdowns

McSorley CAREER STATS: 26-6 career record; 8,419 passing yards; 60.6 completion percentage; 69 touchdowns, 20 interceptions; 1,309 rushing yards, 24 rushing touchdowns; 9,728 total yards, 93 total touchdowns

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