Penn State's Offense Makes a Statement Vs. Michigan State
Penn State’s offense showed some wrinkles, efficiency and overall life against Rutgers last week. Then it exploded Friday at Ford Field against Michigan State. The unit, now led by co-coordinators Ty Howle and Ja’Juan Seider, clearly let out some frustration against the Spartans, who came into the evening as one of the Big Ten’s worst defenses, for a 42-0 clobbering on Black Friday.
The momentum started, and spent most of the game, on running back Kaytron Allen’s shoulders. Allen took a first-quarter handoff in the shadow of his own end zone, broke through a seam on the left side and burst for 53 yards, Penn State’s longest run of the season. After two drives that ended in field goals, Nicholas Singleton took his chance to break free. A 20-yard scamper turned into a 2-yard receiving touchdown for Allen. The floodgates opened from there, highlighted by the duo’s big night, a sharp Drew Allar and a spread-the wealth effort throughout.
"I thought he played well," Penn State coach James Franklin said of Allar after the game in Detroit. "I thought he missed some throws on the run that he normally makes, but overall I thought he played well. It's interesting, we talk about criticisms. How many touchdown passes has he thrown this year? Twenty-three, and one interception. If you just took that statistic and told the 132 coaches in the country that their quarterback would have those stats before the season started, I think everybody would take it and run."
Allen had a career-high 137 rushing yards, Singleton totaled season-highs in rushing (118 yards) and receiving (68), Allar threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns and 10 different receivers caught passes. The kicker? Penn State generated a season-high 12 explosive plays, six each on the ground and through the air.
James Franklin said earlier this week that he wanted to tailor the offensive game plan to Penn State's talent rather tailoring talent to scheme. The statement followed a question about wide receiver Omari Evans, who played an increased number of snaps against Rutgers after disappearing through the start of the year. Evans came up big again Friday.
Allar reared back and took his first read, a long ball down the middle of the field. Evans caught it in stride with two steps of separation from a pair of defenders, stumbling at the 2-yard line after a beautiful 60-yard reception. It was a great example of that note Franklin offered, as Evans has blazing speed but hadn’t seen the field often this season. Franklin reiterated that point to reporters at Ford Field after Friday's game.
"I think sometimes as coaches you focus on things the guys can’t do rather than saying, 'Here’s something that this guy does really well, let’s allow him to use that and allow him to have success there and build on it,'" Franklin said. "We probably rotated more guys [at receiver specifically]. We're playing more guys, we’re rotating more guys. … The biggest thing is, we have some guys that I think can really do some good things. We have played to their strengths, we have focused on the things that they can do, and they use that to build confidence for the future."
While Singleton’s involvement wasn’t a problem to this point, his usage was completely different Friday. He lined up wide and took a bubble screen 53 yards for the second-longest play of the day. There was an emphasis on getting the sophomore in space where his speed could make a difference, something that was missing all season.
Penn State also used the Beau Pribula package more as well. As Franklin told reporters after the game, playing both quarterbacks was "something that we really wanted to do all year long, but we were able to emphasize it the last two weeks." Better late than never. Pribula was on the field a handful of times, throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Warren and rushing for a score. Nearly all of the Lions’ scores Friday were representative of offensive changes made since Mike Yurcich was fired.
Sure, Michigan State's defense was brutal, but the performance was noteworthy nonetheless. From variable and creative formations to deep passing plays to hitting tight ends over the middle, Penn State's offense capped the regular season under Seider and Howle in style. Who knows where Franklin’s offensive coordinator search goes now that the regular season is over, but Friday was a vote of confidence for the future.
More Penn State Football
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Penn State 42, Michigan State 0: An exclamation point for the Lions
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Max Ralph is a Penn State senior studying Broadcast Journalism with minors in sports studies and Japanese. He previously covered Penn State football for two years with The Daily Collegian and has reported with the Associated Press and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Follow him on Twitter (X) @maxralph_ and Instagram @mralph_59.
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