NFL
By: Brock Vierra
For James Franklin and his Penn State Nittany Lions football team, the ceiling that prevents them from entering the upper echelon of the Big 10 continues to be an unbreakable force. Despite the fact that besides the Big 10, the SEC would be the only conference that Penn State wouldn’t dominate in, they’ve fallen into a deep hole I call the “Auburn crevasse.” The Auburn crevasse is the hole that Auburn football constantly finds itself in. Only three teams in the country are better than Auburn when Auburn is good. The problem is that those teams are Alabama, LSU, and Georgia and those teams all play in the SEC. For Penn State, it is Michigan and Ohio State. Despite the multiple Pro Bowl players that James Franklin has coached at Penn State, the team can’t seem to ever put together a winning effort. Their offensive struggles are why.
Drew Aller might already be the best QB to ever play at Penn State. To be fair, it’s not an impressive list. However his calmness and his ability to check the ball down has shown Penn State fans that their offense has taken a massive turn from the f**k it and chuck it, long ball offense of Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford. Penn State has a fantastic offensive line, two-star running backs, and an above-average wide receiver room yet they were held to 12 points from an Ohio State Buckeyes defense that gave up 17 to Maryland. What happened?
Penn State’s inept offensive coordinator is to blame
Mike Yurcich. The Penn State offensive coordinator wants to turn every QB he coaches into Tim Tebow. That’s what happened. The man who is allergic to running anything outside of the inside run out of shotgun with 11 personnel. His offense is too basic, too mundane, too pass to the tight end off of play-action-heavy. His offense works because Penn State plays 10 turkeys a year. When they go against teams that are as physically gifted as them, they falter.
Penn State’s offense is too basic
His offense is too one-dimensional, reliant on a QB’s ability to read and react to a linebacker. Yurcich’s refusal to go into a pistol or under center has ruined offensive drives more often than an untimely Sean Clifford interception ever would. Defensive linemen are too fast for a play like an inside handoff to work. If Penn State ran the ball more from a single-back formation, they would be so dominant. However, Yurcich might not think he can build an offense with a QB under center. Instead, he rather build an offense that edge rushers are constantly pinning their ears back to.
Coaching is everything
He gives Aller nothing. He doesn’t provide a game plan that helps soothe a young QB into an offense. He doesn’t provide the pass protection to make a QB comfortably in the pocket. He doesn’t move the ball. He doesn’t score. His spread offense is bland and known by all. There’s nothing innovative, impressive, or commendable from this offensive strategy.
Penn State needs a play-caller with fundamental training and a creative mind. Someone who understands how to draw up a pass protection scheme as much as he can draw up a trick play. Penn State has the talent to win the Big 10 and they have the defense to win a national title. Their offense couldn’t win a race if they were the only ones competing.
The reason why Penn State is so bad is their offense. Their offense is so bad because of its boring scheme. Penn State’s scheme is so bad because they don’t make adjustments. By not making adjustments, their offense remains bad. It’s a cycle, a cycle caused by coaching. Until Penn State is ready to take their offense to 2023, they will continue to struggle against the big boys. At least they have another turkey in Indiana this week.
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