Penn State Sunday situation: What we know about the Lions as regular season stretch run begins

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State is not a perfect team. There were seven games full of evidence of that fact prior to Saturday’s imperfect 33-24 win over Indiana. The Lions are a good team, though. And, despite a loss to Ohio State in October, November will truly tell us if this team has what it takes to be great or not.

“Battled, were resilient,” Lions coach James Franklin said after the victory. “Found a way to get a win. Found ways to make plays at critical moments. Dani’s play, obviously, was huge. KeAndre’s play was huge. Drew responding like that. So, I’m just proud of the guys. So, obviously we’ve got some things that we got to get cleaned up and corrected. But moving forward you know, we’ve got to get back to stacking days, stacking wins and learn from the last few weeks’ experiences.”

What do we know about the Nittany Lions after eight weeks? It’s the focus of this week’s Sunday situation.

The Penn State offense is maddening

Back in August, it was widely believed that Drew Allar was going to put the Nittany Lions’ offense into overdrive. After two months of play, however, it has shown few glimpses of what everyone thought it would be and is too often stuck in neutral. The last two weeks have been filled with drives that last only three or four plays. The team’s star running backs, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, have not produced gaudy numbers. Receiver is and will continue to be a question mark. Tight end play is fine but not stellar. The offensive line, while capable of being above average, has floated around the Mendoza line of late.

Simply put, a glass-half-full perspective would be that the Lions’ 57-yard game-winning touchdown pass will unlock an attack that has been far from explosive all season. The glass-half-empty perspective would be to say that coordinator Mike Yurcich’s offense is what it is at this point: Sometimes capable of big plays, usually adept at defeating inferior opponents, and incapable of stringing together strong spurts of consistent play and big chunks of explosive ones.

By the end of November, we’ll know what the proper perspective should be at the moment. Our gut feeling leans toward the latter being the more likely of the two possibilities. But, if Allar’s first interception leads to him having more shot-taking opportunities that force defenses to play Penn State differently, then the former option is wholly possible. All told, though, we’ve seen enough to simply doubt that another, higher gear exists on a consistent basis.

The Lions’ defense is great

It was likely that Penn State would have a strong defense in Manny Diaz’s second season at the helm of it. By many measures, the unit has exceeded expectations. Was it exposed some against the Hoosiers? Yes. It was also dealing with injuries and coming off a long day in Columbus. We’re willing to give this bunch a pass for the performance, which was uncharacteristic, to say the least.

The key for the Lions’ defense in November will be to eliminate mental miscues. There are rarely physical problems with this bunch. But, when they get beat, it’s almost always due to a missed assignment, presnap confusion, or trying to do too much. Eliminate those issues, and Penn State can end the season with one of if not the best statistical defenses in the country. Getting Chop Robinson back is key too, of course. But, this group is as solid as they come.

Special teams have been special of late

Has any part of this Penn State team improved more than the special teams? Punter Riley Thompson and kicker Alex Felkins can both be relied upon at any point of a game. Daequan Hardy has added an explosive dynamic to the punt return game. Kickoff returns are not hurting this team even if they generally don’t produce much in the field position flipping department. And, kickoffs have been outstanding.

Special teams were a major question mark for Penn State back in August. Eight games in, it’s hard to find fault with any part of coordinator Stacy Collins’ unit. It is producing at a higher level than anyone could have expected.

Final word on Penn State after October

Penn State is not a completely complete team. But, it’s not far from it, either. We realize that this group, and season, will be judged by what happens against Michigan here at Beaver Stadium in two weeks. But, after two months of play, the good and bad preseason expectations for the Lions largely match the current realities.

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