Penn State Is Building an Offense to Win the Big Ten

The Lions have favored time of possession over explosive plays. So far, the strategy is working.

James Franklin has built Penn State's offensive identity at Penn State largely around explosive plays. The 2016 and 2017 offense reveled in them, as did Sean Clifford's teams of the past four years. This year's different. While the 2023 Nittany Lions certainly want to throw downfield and break big runs, they're entirely content being methodical if that's what defenses offer them.

The strategy has worked so far, as unbeaten Penn State leads the Big Ten in scoring offense (40.5 points per game) without a running play longer than 21 yards — and that was by the backup quarterback. Following the Lions' 31-0 win over Iowa last week, running back Nicholas Singleton, the team's big-play star of 2022, explained why this very different approach works for him.

"[Running backs] coach [Ja'Juan] Seider is always telling us to get those greedy yards," Singleton said. "That's what we're doing, getting the hard, greedy yards."

Penn State is building a very different offense than the one it fielded in 2022 or that it appeared to be building for this season. So far the Lions have fielded a long-drive, possession-oriented offense that converts red-zone touchdowns instead of big plays from midfield. Singleton is the prime example. Through four games as a freshman, the running back had five carries of 44 yards or longer. His longest run this season is 19 yards. 

Penn State has expanded that trend to its larger offense. Last season, the Lions had compiled 26 plays of 20 yards or longer through their first four games. By season's end they had totaled 68 such plays, ranking third in the Big Ten. But this year, Penn State has recorded just nine plays of 20 yards or longer, only two of which are runs.

Instead, Penn State is content to lead the nation in time of possession (37:06 per game) and finish the job in the red zone. The Lions have scored touchdowns on 18 of their 23 red-zone possessions for the second-highest total Power 5 total behind only Washington (19). They also have 12 touchdown drives that have lasted at least 4 minutes. Penn State had only 13 of those drives through the entire 2023 season.

That's important because Penn State is building an offense that can win the Big Ten. Of course, Franklin, his staff and especially his players want to generate more explosive plays. But if they can continue being successful with this labor-intensive strategy against Ohio State and Michigan, the Lions will position themselves well for the College Football Playoff.

"We're always looking for balance, and right now I think we have shown the ability to run to win, and we've shown the ability to pass to win," Franklin said. "I think we need to be able to show that we can grind it out to win, which we have, but I also think we need to show that we can be explosive to win as well. We've done that at times but probably not as much as we've grinded it out. But I would also say that also plays a little bit to how people were playing us."

The Lions have faced a variety of defensive looks, from Illinois' man coverage with a deep safety to Iowa's fairly soft zone. The common threads, however, were loaded fronts to stop the run and back-end alignments to prevent deep plays. So instead of throwing into those looks, especially with a first-year starting quarterback, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has moved methodically against those defenses and beaten them in the red zone.

Against Iowa, quarterback Drew Allar completed 25 passes, none longer than 14 yards. According to Pro Football Focus, his average air yards per throw were 4.4. But Allar threw all four of his touchdown passes in the red zone, three of them on third or fourth down. His first touchdown pass to Tyler Warren, a 2-yarder that gave the Lions a 17-0 lead, was an expert combination of play design and timeliness. Allar rolled right, pivoted and threw back to Warren, who was alone on simple crossing route against a defense moving in the other direction.

Breaking down Drew Allar’s touchdown pass to Tyler Warren on the goal line.

Cool play design. Great execution. The little things make this play happen.

⬇️ pic.twitter.com/uCA9zLHn7d

— Adam Breneman (@AdamBreneman81) September 25, 2023

This is what offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has done all season. Instead of going for the big bang, particularly on a murky night against Iowa, Yurcich has been content to move purposefully downfield and get creative in the red zone. Remember that, against Illinois, the only touchdown pass was thrown by third-string running back Trey Potts on a halfback option.

After the win over Iowa, Franklin noted how he didn't want Yurcich to get "bored" with calling plays that worked. The head coach reiterated that point this week, suggesting that he doesn't want Yurcich to force-feed explosive plays into an offense that is scoring without them.

"Do not get bored with grinding this game out because it is working for us in a style that is going to allow us to beat this Iowa football team," Franklin told the offensive staff at halftime. "The fourth-and-one conversions [Penn State was 4-fof-4], the sequencing of how we're calling the plays, knowing when we're going to go for it on fourth down, like grind it out. It wasn't like we went at halftime and said we need to be more explosive in this game. No, let's not get bored with how it's going."

Penn State also isn't bored with being the nation's only team without a turnover. That's a winning strategy with or without big plays. Further, the Lions haven't trailed this season, meaning they haven't needed to shock a game's system yet with explosive plays. Still, it's not like the offense can't go long. In Allar, Penn State still has perhaps the Big Ten's strongest arm. And in Singleton, Penn State has the player who led the Big Ten in runs of 40+ yards last season.

In the meantime, Penn State is content to grind out wins with an offense undeterred by feeling "bored."

"We've got to be able to show that we can grind it out or be explosive, run the ball to win, pass the ball to win," Franklin said, "and we need to continue to grow and develop in the explosive play area."

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.