Midweek Musings – Can the Offense Be Salvaged?

This past weekend against Wisconsin, the offense was, well, offensive.

In the first half, the offense had 6 possessions, 3 of which ended in punts, and 1 of which ended the half. They only managed to score on 2 drives – 1 field goal, and 1 touchdown on a short field thanks to an interception by the defense.

Sidebar, that the team got the ball back with 1:13 left on the clock and did little-to-nothing with it, not trying to regain some momentum after Wisconsin had just cut the lead to 17-7 baffles me.

In the second half, the offense had 7 possessions, 4 of which ended in punts – FOUR STRAIGHT 3-AND-OUTS – and 1 of which ended the game. They only managed to score on 1 drive – a field goal.

The average drive for Penn State throughout the day lasted 5 plays, covered just over 18 yards, and consumed just 2 minutes and 20 seconds of the game clock.

Part of the reason for the clock simply not running was a passing game that simply could not get sorted out. Til now, the run game had struggled, but the passing game made up for it.

Against the Badgers, the run game was okay I guess. 3.3 yards per carry, and got 119 yards on the ground.

But it was the passing game that fell off a cliff. Rocco Becht attempted 29 passes, connecting on just 12 of them for a 41.4% completion percentage. Every time the ball came back down and hit the turf, the clock stopped. For a team that appeared to be trying to milk the clock from the middle of the second quarter, having your previously accurate QB misfire left and right is suboptimal.

Becht only achieved 3.9 yards per pass on the day. When the passing game is only getting you 0.3 yards per play more than the run game, and is stopping the clock more often than not, when you’re trying to run out said clock . . . just run the dang ball!

All we can really do is hope that it was just a stinker and that Rocco and the offense can flush it and move on. It seems like the QB has done this in the past – the occasional oddball bad day at the offense, and then is right back to it the next week.

But man, things don’t get much easier going forward.

Up to and including the week 4 games, here’s how the remaining defenses stack up against Wisconsin:

Four of the remaining defenses allow fewer points per game than the Badgers.

Three of the remaining defenses allow fewer rush yards per game than the Badgers.

Just one of the remaining defenses allow fewer pass yards per game than the Badgers.

Just two of the remaining defenses allow fewer total yards per game than the Badgers.

In other words – this Wisconsin defense is more-or-less middle of the road in terms of defenses left on the schedule. If there’s one area that it appears Penn State ran into a bit of a meat grinder against the Badgers, it was in the passing game. Perhaps that’s why Rocco looked so totally lost all day.

It looks like it gets a little better against Northwestern, who are apparently far worse at allowing yards than Wisconsin. Yet somehow, they’re letting up fewer points than the Badgers.

In other words, bend but don’t suck. Let teams march into the red zone without giving up touchdowns. Let me think, does Penn State excel at scoring touchdowns once they get into the red zone? Hmmm.

For now, let’s just hope that it was a bizarre combination of conservative playcalling for the final 40 minutes of the game, coupled with Rocco Becht facing potentially the second hardest pass defense he’ll see all season.

But if not, and that offensive performance is the new normal, it is going to be a looooooong season.