The Penn State defense has been under a lot of scrutiny this season. After starting the season on a three-game winning streak, the Nittany Lions lost four straight, giving up 27.5 points per game. However, now, after back-to-back wins against Purdue and Washington, the Nittany Lions' defense looks much improved.
Against Washington, the Penn State defense only gave up six points in the first half, helping facilitate a 22-point lead at half. Shockingly, the Nittany Lions narrowly escaped a loss in Seattle by winning 28-25. After giving up 19 unanswered points, on Tuesday, defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn gave a good explanation for the defensive struggles in the second half.
What happened to the Penn State defense in the second half versus Washington?
It is pretty well known that defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn plays mostly base defense, relying on his guys to execute fundamentals to near perfection. On one hand, base defense means that the Nittany Lions are masters of their assignments. On the other hand, a lack of blitzing and variety means that small mistakes compound into points on the scoreboard.
In Penn State's four losses, there were major problems up front. There was little to no pressure on opposing quarterbacks and a lack of ability to stop the run. The base defense Lynn was running in those games created scenarios where everyone had to execute perfectly for success on a given play. Tackles for loss, sacks, and turnovers are hard to come by when players miss assignments or struggle to tackle in space.
After the bye week, Penn State reassessed its defensive philosophy. The next week against Purdue, Lynn decided to be more aggressive defensively and speed up opposing quarterbacks via the blitz. In addition, to stop the run, the Lions brought linebackers from the second level to insert in run blitzes.
After success against Purdue, it was assumed the same philosophy would remain. That being said, against a running quarterback like Demond Williams, keeping him in the pocket was the main priority. If Penn State got too aggressive and the play broke down, Williams could beat them with his leg or extend plays on the run.
Therefore, against the Huskies, Penn State did run blitz on expected runs, but did not speed up Williams too much in the pass game. Base defense worked when everyone did their job in the first half. In the second half, the defense started to get sloppy.
On the second half woes, Lynn said the reason for the struggles was because of "leverage and missed tackles." He added, "I thought we did a really good job of it in the first two quarters. If you look at the second half, there's five plays whether its run game or pass game, we lose leverage and guys don't make each other right, and we give up big plays."
It is not surprising that Lynn plays a lot of base defense. In his time as a cornerback at Penn State from 2008-2011, this is most of what the team was running. Being fundamentally sound is something Lynn takes pride in. Not executing perfectly is not something he is satisfied with. "It's frustrating, but we have to not get bored doing the same thing over and over again," Lynn said. "We can't lose that focus when we get tired."
To give Lynn credit, the defense has not been the major problem for Penn State this year. Penn State is giving up 297.3 yards per game (19th) and 19.3 points per game (t-28th). Not to mention, the Nittany Lions' pass defense has been stellar for another year. Penn State is only giving up 144.8 yards per game through the air, the third-best mark in the FBS.
Going forward, Penn State might need to combine strategies defensively. If they have success playing base, stay in it. If they continue to struggle again in the second half, start to ramp up pressure and make opposing quarterbacks make mistakes. Either way, this unit has played a lot better as of late, and hopefully they carry it into the Minnesota game on Saturday.
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