Penn State Football: Quarterback Report Post Maryland 2018
The 2018 season was a bit of roller coaster at times for Penn State football. Versus Maryland, QB Trace McSorley put a ribbon on a fantastic career.
One stat demonstrates how successful Trace McSorley’s career at Penn State football has been, his record, 31-8. The fifth-year senior QB wrapped up win No. 31 with a 38-3 victory over Maryland Saturday.
In the win, McSorley finished 12-of-22 passing with 230 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions, while adding 64 yards and two touchdowns on 11 rushes. He managed to play efficiently despite sloppy, rain-soaking conditions on the field. In addition, the receiving corp again had a lot of drops, but he rose above those for one final McSorley gem.
This one had its own 2018 twist on it, with McSorley showing off how dynamic his scrambling ability is. If something wasn’t downfield, he quickly took off and sprinted through the teeth of Maryland’s defense for big gains, as he has done all year. Much of McSorley’s career saw him toss the ball downfield for the big, home-run ball, but this year he’s been much more dynamic on the ground with the struggles out at the receiver spots.
Still, he hit some nice passes and threw a touchdown to Pat Freiermuth for his team-leading, seventh TD snag of the year. This season has been far from the one many expected, but McSorley didn’t roll over and give up on the year. He’s kept Penn State football on the map with a quality finish to the season and put them on the map initially since he began starting in 2016.
Tommy Stevens also saw some time from his LION position and some backup reps as well. He rushed for 35 yards on three rushes and complete 2-of-2 passes for 25 yards to round out an A-plus day for the quarterback position.
Now that we’re at the end of the regular season let’s look at how McSorley fared this season in comparison to others. He still has a bowl game remaining but lets look at how he’s likely to finish out.
He has 2,285 yards, 16 touchdowns against six interceptions through the air, while adding a career-high 723 yards and 11 more touchdowns in the ground game. He’s likely to finish at least 1,000 yards fewer than in each of the past two seasons. The first two years he averaged more than 3,500 yards and 28 touchdowns through the air. He did turn the ball over at a higher clip, but he made more plays. That also was because his receivers were more reliable.
In the same breath, he has produced at a much higher rate in the running game. He averaged just under 400 yards and nine TDs in 2016 through 2017. This year, he’s adjusted to what he’s had to work with and made explosive plays in the run game.
To wrap up this week’s QB Report, I’d like to congratulate McSorley on a fantastic college career – that’s featured innumerable broken records and could see even more.
Next. Penn State Football: Draft stock report for Nittany Lions. dark
McSorley SEASON STATS: 9-3, 2018 record; 176-of-329, 2,285 yards, 16 touchdowns, six interceptions; 723 rushing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns, 4.8 yards per carry; 3,008 total yards, 27 total touchdowns
McSorley CAREER STATS: 31-8 career record; 9,654 passing yards; 59 completion percentage; 75 touchdowns, 24 interceptions; 1,622 rushing yards, 29 rushing touchdowns; 11,276 total yards, 104 total touchdowns
Stevens CAREER STATS: 24-of-41 for 304 yards, four touchdowns and one interception; 506 rushing yards, eight touchdowns, 6.5 yards per carry; 14 catches, 62 yards, two touchdowns; 872 total yards, 14 total touchdowns