Penn State football picked up their second win in as many weeks over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a blustery SHI Stadium Saturday afternoon, 23-7.
If there were ever a season for Rutgers to gain ground and try to establish a rivalry with Penn State Football, this was it, but instead it was the Nittany Lions to once again showed how far the Scarlet Knights are from this series gaining any real juice.
It was evident from the Nittany Lions’ opening possession just how wide the talent gap remains between James Franklin’s team and Greg Schiano’s still developing Scarlet Knights.
Penn State football picks up their second consecutive victory of the season Saturday, defeating Rutgers 23-7. It was an ugly game, with rain and 30 mph winds playing a factor in play calling.
Despite the weather, Penn State was dominant on both lines of scrimmage, bullying the Scarlet Knights as the Nittany Lions outgained Rutgers 381 yards to 205, in a game that felt much more uneven than the final score suggests.
The question coming into this one was would the Nittany Lions be motivated, and they answered that question rather quickly, jumping out to an early 7-0 lead and never looking back.
Because of the weather, the play calling kept the ball on the ground most of the day, as quarterback Sean Clifford only completed 15 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown in the win.
Here are three key takeaways from Penn States dominant victory over Rutgers:
Dominant in the trenches
Penn State football fans have been waiting all season for a performance like this by the offensive and defensive lines, as the Nittany Lions talent and depth showed out on both sides of the line of scrimmage Saturday afternoon.
Offensively, it seems Penn State has found a starting five they like, as the big uglies paved the way for 248 rushing yards on the day. For the second straight week, freshman running back Keyvone Lee led the team in rushing with 95 yards on 17 carries. Sophomore running back Devyn Ford was back this week and had arguably his best performance, racking up 65 yards and a touchdown on the ground, showing the elusiveness the staff hoped to see earlier in the season.
On the other side of the ball, Penn States front lived in the Rutgers backfield all afternoon. The Nittany Lions allowed only 205 total yards, with a mere 83 of them coming on the ground. On two of there first three drives of the afternoon, Rutgers turned the ball over on downs in there own territory after failing to convert on 4th and 1 each time. Penn State’s front seven blew up both short yardage attempts, with Antonio Shelton showing out on both en route to maybe his best game in the blue and white.
Penn State also recorded two sacks on the afternoon after finally generating pressure quarterback Noah Vedral every time he dropped back to pass. Defensive end Jayson Oweh stood out, showing why many think he may be a first round draft pick in April’s NFL Draft.
Penn State was the more talented team today, with blue chip prospects all over the field and it showed. The Nittany Lions were the bully on both sides of the ball, manhandling the Scarlet nights to a decisive victory.
Red zone Woes Continue
Penn State football came into this game ranked 120th out of 127 FBS teams in red zone scoring this season, cashing in on only 11 touchdowns on 25 red zone opportunities.
Today’s victory at Rutgers wont do much to help those numbers as Penn State scored one touchdown on three red zone trips this afternoon, converting on field goal attempts on the other two trips inside the twenty.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the struggles this season, and in this game in particular. On the first red zone trip today, Clifford threw the ball high on a slant route to wide receiver Parker Washington. It was a ball Washington could have caught but once again, a poorly thrown pass, a bit high by Clifford resulted in a field goal attempt.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca did not dial up any red zone fade routes this week, however seemed to get very conservative down near the end zone, only attempting two passes on all three trips. As effective as the running game was, it gets tough to run once the defense packs in tight as there is less ground to cover.
Whether it is starting with a short field, or finishing off an impressive offensive drive, not capitalizing down in the red zone is not only deflating, but allows the opponent to stay in the game. The Nittany Lions dominated all sixty minutes against the Scarlet Knights, but only had a 16 point victory to show for it because of inconsistent play when the end zone draws near.
Enough of Will Levis
Penn State has seemingly fallen in love with the Will Levis “Falcon package” as they call it, but if they are not going to get any type f creativity going with it, they need to ditch it all together.
At one point in the second half, backup quarterback Will Levis was leading the team in rushing attempts, and ended up carrying the ball 17 times for 65 yards. Levis did have success at times, one being a 14 yard scamper, however the predictability of what Penn State is going to do once he enters the game is submarining the “Falcon package.”
Levis entered the game for 17 plays, and ran the ball every single time he was called on. He did not even so much as hand the ball off to the running back on any of his snaps. Following Rutgers lone touchdown of the game, Penn State responded with an offensive possession that featured three quarterback draws by Levis, eventually resulting in a Penn State three and out and punt.
The wrinkle of bringing in Levis works in short yardage situations, particularly on the goal line as we saw Levis score a rushing touchdown last week at Michigan. However, at this point its predictability makes it easy for the offense to know what’s coming when they see number seven enter the game. The “Falcon pakcage” needs to go to the wayside.