What Changed With Penn State's Offense This Season?

Penn State has thrived as a big-play program. This year, time of possession and turnover margin are the Lions' top assets.

On his first drive as Penn State’s starting quarterback, Drew Allar evaded pressure, stepped up in a collapsing pocket and threw a dart to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 72-yard touchdown. That play alone sparked ample hope that Penn State's offense finally would reach the promised land: a stud quarterback with proven game-breaking running backs producing an explosive offense. Yet since then, Penn State is tied 132nd, or last among FBS teams, in plays of 20-plus yards.

The Lions have 12. For Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, that's not good enough.

“Not satisfied with it thus far. Need to continue to grow there, both run and pass, finding explosives, throwing the ball more down the field when given the opportunity to do so,” Yurcich said during a Zoom call Tuesday. “A lot of times what we're seeing is softer-type coverage in [inopportune] times. So that's part of it. Just timing there and making sure that we're getting into good looks, something that I can control, and making sure we're doing a better job of play-wise.”

Penn State’s 12 plays of 20-plus yards are tied with East Carolina at the bottom of the FBS. A year ago, Penn State's offense finished 40th nationally with 68 plays of 20-plus yards. So what happened?

The offense as a whole has been successful enough to propel Penn State to a 5-0 record without any particularly close games along the way. The Lions lead the nation in time of possession, have an offense that hasn't turned over the ball, top the Big Ten in scoring offense (40.6 ppg) and possess the nation's longest streak of games scoring 30+ points (12). Defensive dominance and long drives have contributed to the current state of Penn State’s offense.

Though lack of explosion hasn’t caused issues to this point, Penn State's coaches continually nod toward needing more of those plays. They certainly will come in handy as Penn State moves toward playing Ohio State, Maryland and Michigan in three of its next five games.

“The areas that we need to improve on are more explosive plays, and we know that,” Yurcich said. “I think our offense has to understand that we're doing a lot of difficult things well, to where we're putting long drives together, we're keeping the defense off the field — which helps them play better. So we're playing team offense, but we do need to improve in certain areas. The sexiness, or however you may term that, we do understand there is an area for that.”

Running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both have yet to record a run of 20+ yards, perhaps the most surprising aspect of the offense to this point. They weren’t able to do it against Northwestern, one of the bottom-30 run defenses in the nation. Yurcich said Singleton and Allen have done a “pretty good” job this season and need to work on trusting their vision, speed and the gap schemes in front of them. It boils down to the “finer points of each run” and seeing the bigger picture, he said, to break open for the explosive runs.

Penn State’s offensive line has struggled to create holes in the run. On the other hand, they’re a top-five unit in the nation in allowing just three sacks of Allar. Yurcich highlighted having just two negative-yardage plays against Northwestern as reason for optimism with the group.

“There's a lot to build on. There's a lot of good," he said. "The improvements that have to be made are just continuing to execute better in the run game and when the numbers are equal in the box, to come away with more yardage, to come off with a lower hat, the fundamentals to get more vertical when vertical runs are called — A-gap runs — continuing to come off and double-team and move people at the point of attack. And then give us a chance when we do have to throw the football to complement ourselves and not be in too many dropback situations where the defense can really pin their ears back and attack.”

The offense is working against itself, as defenses have loaded up against Singleton and Allen but have not been threatened down the field by Allar enough. There is still some concern in the receiving corps beyond Lambert-Smith, who Yurcich called a “spark that we’ve needed.” There was a noticeable disconnect in receivers’ timing with Allar at Northwestern.

“We just need to continue to press and find the right combination to guys and keep those guys competing. The biggest thing is we're gonna need them all,” Yurcich said. “We know that time is ticking. That is a big part of what we want to do as far as identify the guys that we need to target on the field. We like where we're headed.”

Penn State had the bye and Saturday's game against UMass game to refine things before a high-stakes trip to Ohio State. “We're playing winning football right now,” Yurcich said. “And we need, if we can, continue to make strides and get better and accelerate. And I think with time that will happen, especially with some inexperience at wide receiver and the quarterback position.”

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Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.

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