Penn State first-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles got two cracks and Oregon OC Will Stein and the Ducks last season. Stein got the best of him in Eugene in Week 7, but at the Rose Bowl, in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, Knowles figured the Oregon offense out.
Now, Knowles will get a rubber match, only this time, with a different defense after moving from Columbus to Happy Valley following last season’s national championship run. His personnel might be different, but Knowles had the perfect plan against the Ducks, and you know what they say, if it ain't broke…
How Jim Knowles stumped Stein in the Rose Bowl
On Monday, James Franklin, who also saw Oregon in the postseason last year, falling to the Ducks 45-37 in the Big Ten Championship game, spoke about how previous defensive coordinator Tom Allen didn't have enough answers for Stein's quick-passing attack. Slot wide receiver Tez Johnson torched the Nittany Lions' man-coverage-heavy scheme for 181 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches.
That seemed to be a big reason that Franklin let Allen walk to Clemson, where he's not having much more success with the Tigers, and hired Knowles off Ryan Day's staff. Now, Franklin knows he's coming into this matchup with one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, and one who shut down the Ducks just seven short months ago.
Knowles unveiled a new wrinkle in Pasadena, bringing safety Caleb Downs closer to the line of scrimmage and over the middle of the field in a three-safety look that forced Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel to settle for underneath throws and helped to limit the yards of the catch. Oregon’s YAC per reception dropped from 7.2 in the regular season contest, a 32-31 win, to 5.1 in the Rose Bowl, a resounding 41-21 defeat that was never that close.
But that wasn’t the only difference. Knowles was too aggressive in the regular season, blitzing Gabriel on 14 of his 36 dropbacks, and the veteran QB, with a talented wide receiver room, a rolodex from years of experience at the position, and answers from an excellent play-caller, carved, completing eight of 13 passes against the blitz for 131 yards (10.1 ypa) and a touchdown. He took aggressive shots, completing all four of his throws of 20+ yards downfield for 177 yards and a touchdown. Oregon’s receivers made Knowles pay for leaving his cornerbacks on islands.
The Rose Bowl rematch occurred without one of Oregon’s top deep threats, Evan Stewart, who went for 149 yards and a touchdown on seven catches in the first iteration. Still, that wasn’t the only reason Gabriel and the Ducks couldn’t win downfield.
Knowles blitzed just five times in the Rose Bowl. Now, some of that was dictated by game-script, which got out of hand quickly, but it also appeared to be an international, more reserved defensive approach, and it worked. Gabriel still torched Ohio State when Knowles dialed up pressure, going 4-for-4 for 50 yards and a touchdown, but against coverage looks, he completed 25 of his 38 throws for 249 yards (6.1 ypa) and a touchdown.
New QB same dominant offense in Oregon
Oregon still won’t have Stewart, who was lost for the season in fall camp, on Saturday, and will head into the White Out with a new starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore and former five-star Dante Moore, who transferred from UCLA ahead of the 2024 season to sit behind Gabrel. But his splits have looked similar against pressure, and with Stein still on the headset, Knowles would be wise to run back his conservative game plan.
So far this season, through a dominant 4-0 start, Moore has played pristine football against the blitz. Sometimes, all bringing an extra rusher does, especially for a quarterback who gets the ball out as quickly as Moore, is to clarify the picture on the backend of the defense. He’s been decisive, with a 2.36 average time to throw against the blitz, and is top 10 in the country at 11.3 yards per attempt. He’s completing over 70 percent of those throws, has yet to be sacked on a blitzed dropback (or at all for that matter), and has recorded zero turnover-worthy plays.
Penn State will have to trust its vaunted four-man rush, with Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant, and Zuriah Fisher, to win consistently because bringing the heat is a death knell against a Stein offense. Ohio State did, pressuring Gabriel on 23 of his 52 dropbacks in the Rose Bowl with a defensive line led by four NFL draft picks. However, to compound Knowles’ troubles, Oregon’s offensive line ranks 1st in the FBS in PFF’s pass block efficiency metric, with just nine QB pressure allowed all season.
So, this could be a real cat-and-mouse game on Saturday night. When will Knowles bring pressure, and can Moore and Stein make him pay for it? Or, does Stein have new answers for the Jim Knowles defense? I can’t wait to find out.