Assessing Penn State strengths and weaknesses: BWI Daily

Penn State football put together a successful 11-2 season last year, riding a five-game winning streak into the offseason, capped by a 35-21 victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl. But every team is assessing its strengths and weaknesses this time of year.

February is a recruiting dead period and is a good time to do a deep dive into what parts of the offense and defense worked last season and which parts didn’t. While we won’t get into incredibly nuanced assessments like formation usage or personnel package broken down by field position, we’ll hit some high-level concepts that the Nittany Lions can improve upon or keep up next season.

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Penn State Offense

Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurich is a creative and fertile football mind who comes up with rather innovative solutions to his problems. There was a learning curve in the first two seasons, but his ability to create dangerous situations for the defense, thanks to formational alignment, has been a standout trait.

Most fans are familiar with the team’s T-formation, which lines up two running backs on either side of a fullback in a line. Balance is the key to this alignment because the offense can run either direction thanks to the fullback’s alignment and two tight ends lining up on the line of scrimmage on either side. It was popular enough that NFL teams borrowed it from the Nittany Lions for the 2022 playoffs.

Another favorite is the Cowboy backfield, which, again, features balance. Two Penn State tight ends line up on either side of the quarterback, with the running back in a pistol alignment. This formation allows the quarterback to hand the ball off in either direction while still having access to read option and RPO elements from the tight ends (fullbacks) fanning out in either direction. It can also give the team a lead blocker and a puller in either direction for quick run-game action.

Auburn play sequencing led to TD

On top of this, Yurich is a skilled play-caller that uses play sequencing well. When he’s in a rhythm, he will dial up plays that look similar and play off of one another. The best example of this came in Penn State’s week four win against Auburn.

On the flip side, the team struggled to find a cohesive passing attack most weeks. The vertical passing game was a literal hit-or-miss affair, which did improve at the end of the season but was a problem in big games. The integration of the tight ends into the deep passing attack opened things up against teams that didn’t account for them, but throwing outside the numbers was still an adventure.

Offensive line still working to eliminate bad plays

The Penn State offensive line took a step forward last season, but there’s more work to do. Injuries play a part, but the team gave up 21 sacks last season, tied for 40th nationally. The run game didn’t fare much better, surrendering 4.5 tackles for loss per game, which was tied for 29th. That last figure isn’t terrible, but when combined with sacks, it still leads to too many negative plays.

Those negative plays, especially early in the down, led to the biggest frustration for the offense, short drives. Forty-one of Pen State’s drives last season ended in a three-and-out or a turnover on less than three plays and less than 10 yards. The team has an explosive element on the ground, but when backed into a corner, they struggled to gain consistency.

Check out the BWI Daily Edition to learn about defensive scouting and to get more details on the offense.