This past weekend, Penn State lost its fourth straight game, this time to the Michigan Wolverines, by a score of 21-18.
The loss was due in no small part to the play of quarterback Rocco Becht.
After a solid opening drive that saw Becht complete all 6 of his pass attempts and led to the only points of the first half – a Penn State field goal – the quarterback settled in and the two teams traded punts the rest of the way.
It was the second half when the wheels fell off.
The very first Penn State play of the second half was an interception, setting the Wolverines up at the Penn State 43 yard line.
Two plays later, the score was 7-3.
Very next drive, Penn State was moving the ball, when another interception ended a promising drive.
11 plays later, the score was 14-3.
Later in the fourth quarter, Penn State having clawed back to make the score 14-11 and driving to try to at least tie things up, Becht was sacked and fumbled the ball.
3 plays later, the score was 21-11.
In a game lost by just a field goal, giving the other team all 21 of their points off of turnovers was sub-optimal.
The response?
Sometimes, Rocco gets unlucky.
C’mon man.
There needs to be accountability. Both passes were not “unlucky.” They were bad. Throws into double coverage or just simply directly to the defensive back. Fumbles can certainly be fluky, but ball security is something players are taught.
The worst part is, were it not for those three plays, Penn State walks out of Ann Arbor with a win. Statistically, the Lions played very well, aside from those three plays.
Becht led three long drives that all ended in points: the first drive was 16 plays that covered 69 yards, ending in a field goal; down 14-3, there was a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a TD; and then down 21-11, there was an 11-play, 73-yard drive to make it 21-18.
On the flip side, other than the three TD drives by Michigan, two of which were on short fields immediately following a Becht turnover, the Penn State defense forced Michigan to either punt or turn the ball over themselves 8 times. 8 times out of 11 non-game-ending drives. Again – that should be enough to get a win in almost any scenario, save for three turnovers leading to 21 points for the opposing team.
There needs to be accountability. If Rocco won’t say it, then Matt Campbell should. But there can’t just be a shrug-it-off “oh well” about the whole thing.
There needs to be accountability.
