Coaching wasn’t difference between Penn State and Ohio State
By Josh Yourish
After another loss to Ohio State, any criticism of James Franklin is certainly warranted. He’s now 1-9 against the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions needed a miracle in 2016 to get that win. It’s even fair to criticize Franklin’s decision to keep his offense on the field on 4th & 3 trailing 13-6 with 7:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
However, Franklin’s gameday coaching wasn’t the reason that Penn State lost, it was a lack of a player like Marvin Harrison Jr. Ryan Day was happy to settle for field goals in the red zone and didn’t make any crucial decisions to swing the game in his team’s direction, other than telling his quarterback to throw to the best player on the field.
Kyle McCord started the game 5/5, but that initial drive stalled in the red zone and Penn State forced Ohio State to settle for a field goal. After that hot start, McCord was pedestrian and only completed 22 of his 35 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown, but he certainly outdid Drew Allar: 18/42 for 191 yards and a touchdown.
The difference was Marvin Harrison Jr. who hauled in half of McCord’s 22 completions and gained 14.7 yards per reception. Without Emeka Egbuka, Cade Stover was the No. 2 target, catching four passes for 70 yards. Harrison Jr. needed to do everything for the Ohio State offense, and he actually did.
Drew Allar’s top receiver was KeAndre Lambert-Smith with six catches for 52 yards, a far cry from “Maserati Marv’s” production. Mike Yurcich didn’t do his offense and sophomore quarterback many favors with play-calling, but the lack of a dynamic play-maker on offense was what stood out the most.
Maybe the criticism that James Franklin most deserves is about his recruiting. Franklin went from guys like Saquon Barkley, Chris Godwin, Mike Gesicki, and Jahan Dotson, to this. After today, Allar is averaging 6.9 yards per attempt and though he wasn’t good today, he never had anybody open.
Even the run game with Nick Singelton and Kaytron Allen gained just 49 yards today. The Nittany Lions gained 3.5 yards per play.
Penn State is 73rd in the country averaging 5.4 yards per play. No matter how good a team’s defense is, an offense like that just can’t get you to the College Football Playoff. Penn State will keep beating up on Iowa and Indiana, but James Franklin still can’t close the talent gap between his team and Ryan Day’s.