Penn State football: Lions look to fix third down woes — both on offense and defense
One of the key goals for Penn State’s offense is to stay on the field for as long as possible, Pat Freiermuth said Wednesday.
Obviously, the Nittany Lions’ defense would like to do the opposite by getting off the field as quickly as it can.
Both units have struggled to accomplish either task through the season’s first three weeks. So, Penn State spent the bye week diverting a little extra attention to third downs.
"That's been something obviously over the bye period we've spent a lot of time discussing and studying and looking at," James Franklin said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. "It's definitely an area that we can get better."
Franklin recently said that he wants the offense to convert around 38 percent of the time on third down.
This year, the Nittany Lions are operating at a 23.3 percent clip, putting them No. 127 out of 130 FBS teams. Last season, they ranked No. 86 in the country with a 37.1 percent conversion rate. The year prior, with Joe Moorhead at the helm of the offense, they finished fifth in the country.
As Pat Freiermuth pointed out Wednesday, the Lions’ woes aren’t entirely a product of poor execution on third down.
“I think we need to do really good on first and second down so that third downs are more manageable — like third-and-3, third-and-4 — so that we're not getting into those long third down situations,” Freiermuth said.
Against Pitt, Penn State faced third-and-7, third-and-23, third-and-9, third-and-11, third-and-9, third-and-8, third-and-10, third-and-8, third-and-8, third-and-4, third-and-7, third-and-2, and third-and-4.
That’s far from ideal.
“We just need to focus on details and get our route depth and know the coverages and we'll be alright,” Freiermuth said. “We're emphasizing it and we'll get it fixed."
On the defensive side of the ball, the numbers aren’t nearly as concerning, as Penn State is ranked No. 25 in the country in third-down defense, with opponents converting 16 of 54 attempts through the season’s first three games.
But take a look at how those 16 conversions occurred, and there's a worrying trend.
Against Pitt, Penn State gave up three completions of 16 yards or more on third down and was called for two penalties that awarded the Panthers an automatic first down. Pitt also went 3 for 3 on fourth down and recorded 28-yard completion on fourth-and-12.
A week prior against Buffalo, the Lions conceded five completions of 19 yards or more on third down; two went over 40 yards.
“I think we’ve been pretty good on first and second down, but those third-and-longs, we’re letting people off the hook at way too high of a rate,” Franklin said.
Third-and-long, is "usually when screens come out," linebacker Cam Brown said.
"I feel like as a whole, the defense, we just need to recognize [screen passes] and be ready for [them] more often," Brown said. "Usually that relies on the linebackers making the plays, so we can take the blame for that, but we have to play more anticipated football and see that coming.
"It's always a recognition thing because with our linebackers, we have the athleticism to go make the play, but we just have to go see it before it happens."
According to cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, there's a little more to it than simply making the correct pre-snap reads — it comes down to not hesitating and then actually executing, as well.
"I think we’ve been pretty good on first and second down, but those third-and-longs, we’re letting people off the hook at way too high of a rate,” James Franklin said.
Combine the offense's inability to stay on the field with the defense's troubles getting off of it, and you've got a team that's ranked No. 127 in the nation in time of possession.
Friday, Penn State will face a Maryland defense that sits sixth in the country on third down.
It's always important to remember at this time of the year that sample sizes aren't that big yet, but the Lions wouldn't have spent extra attention during the bye week if they didn't think it was something worth correcting.
So if they suddenly start kicking things into gear on third down on both sides of the ball, the first bye week may have come at a fortunate time.
