Through two games, the Penn State rushing attack has left something to be desired.
Against Marshall, a team admittedly selling out to stop the run, Penn State managed just 3.6 yards per carry (YPC), though because they tallied 45 rushes, they did put together 163 yards on the ground, with two touchdowns – one each from Quinton Martin and Cam Wallace.
Against Temple, on 34 carries, the Lions managed 4.4 yards per carry, for a total of 148 yards on the ground. No touchdowns against the Owls, however.
If the run game had sputtered like this last year, knowing how dysfunctional the passing game was, I think it’s not outside the realm of possibility that the Lions could have been upset at this point in the season.
Luckily, the passing game is anything but dysfunctional this year.
Through two games, Rocco Becht has been nothing short of sensational. He’s a combined 34 of 45 passing attempts, completing 76% of his passes. He’s put together 539 yards through the air, and tallied 7 passing touchdowns through two weeks.
Tougher defenses are on the horizon, but if that pace were kept up for a 12-game schedule, he’d have 3,234 passing yards and 42 passing TDs. Trace McSorley holds the record for most passing TDs in a season with just 29.
Now, don’t get me wrong. He’s made some mistakes. At least one of the 1st and goal to go situations against Temple that led to zero points was squarely on Becht misfiring twice in some road game jitters. And as I said, against tougher Big Ten defenses, the production will taper off at least a little bit.
But man, wouldn’t it have been nice to have this sort of passing last season?
If the rushing game can get sorted out, this offense has the chance to be truly potent.
If not? Well, I’ll put my faith in Rocco.
