Penn State Football: Who needs to step up in season’s second half?
By Nick Kreiser
Penn State Football’s bye week falls nicely at the halfway point of the regular season, and they will need many players to elevate their game after the week off.
The back half of Penn State Football’s schedule is a gauntlet.
Three of the Nittany Lions‘ remaining six games are against teams currently ranked within the top 10 nationally … and two of them are on the road. Several key players are going to really need to step up if Penn State is going to survive the second half unscathed.
We do not yet know Sean Clifford’s injury status, or if Ta’Quan Roberson will be the starting quarterback next time Penn State Football takes the field against Illinois in two weeks. More than likely, we won’t know until we see Clifford warming up (or not) before that Homecoming game against the Illini.
Obviously, if Clifford does miss time, Roberson will be the number one player who will need to step up, but since we do not know that yet, we’ll stay away from including him in this list.
Even if Roberson is taking snaps moving forward, the players on this list will make his job easier if they are able to improve for the back half of the Nittany Lions’ regular season.
If Roberson does have to take over under center, Mike Yurcich would become the single most important person in the building, as he would have to squeeze every ounce of potential out of his backup quarterback and possibly alter the playbook a little to play into his strengths.
Sean Clifford or not…here are the players Penn State Football needs to step up for this team to rebound from a tough loss to Iowa and finish this season strong.
A running back … Any Penn State Football running back
Just a short month and a half ago, many fans (myself included), did not know who would be the top backs in a loaded backfield for this Penn State Football team.
Now, we still do not have any separation of a top back(s), but for reasons other than what we would have thought.
None of the running backs have been able to break out yet this season, as the running game has struggled to get going, regardless of who is carrying the ball.
Here are the Nittany Lions’ top four running backs who have seen the most action so far;
- Keyvone Lee – 38 carries for 204 yards (5.4 avg)
- Noah Cain – 67 carries for 202 yards (3.0 avg), 4 touchdowns
- John Lovett – 23 carries for 95 yards (4.1 avg)
- Devyn Ford – 11 carries for 50 yards (4.5 avg)
Based off of yards per carry, Lee is the top back right now, but Cain is the only one who has crossed the goal line through six games.
Not all of the blame should be directed towards the backs, but they definitely hold some responsibility for the inability to get the ground game going.
In the Lions’ lone loss so far this season, there was a lot that went wrong. However, if they were able to run the ball with some success, they still may have been able to escape with a win in spite of all the other misfortunes and mistakes.
In two other games this season, the running game could not close out the game and the defense was forced to come onto the field to get one final stop to win it.
The backs have not always had the best holes to run through, but when they do, they need to make the most of them. When they do get in space, they need to make defenders miss 1-on-1, and also protect the football. Whoever carries the ball on a given play must fight for every possible yard, and do their best to always be falling forward.
The running backs will also continue to play a big role in the passing game, both in catching passes out of the backfield, and in pass blocking too.
It really doesn’t matter who, but at least one of the running backs needs to find some way to get going in the second half of the season to help this offense become more balanced.