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Breaking down Penn State's offensive and defensive plans from the Peach Bowl

Headshot 5x7 reduced qualityby:Thomas Frank Carr•01/03/24•

ThomasFrankCarr

Tyler Warren Penn State Football on3
Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren (44) runs after a catch against the Mississippi Rebels in the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)

The Penn State Football team made a distinct shift since offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was let go in the middle of November. The team made subtle changes over the last month that culminated in the team’s approach in the 2023 Peach Bowl. 

While new offensive coordinators Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle didn’t change many plays, they did change some key elements of the offense that we’ll discuss on today’s BWI Live Show. The offensive targets shifted dramatically at the end of December, which we’ll explain today. We’ll also discuss how that shift narrowed the focus of the offensive attack, making things harder for quarterback Drew Allar. 

Finally, we’ll discuss the team’s defensive mentality after the first drive. We’ll look into how the team performed to understand if there was an impact of former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s absence. 

Penn State defense set up to fail by opt outs

There’s no doubt that Penn State’s loss of its top two corners and best defensive players in Kalen King, Johnny Dixon, and Chop Robinson. We explain how losing Dixon and King affected the Penn State defense’s schematic choices. From there, we’ll discuss how Abdul Carter’s injury further drove a nail in the coffin of Penn State’s defensive efforts. 

Next, we’ll highlight the players who did a good job despite giving up over 500 yards of offense to Ole Miss. Did Cam Miller and Zion Tracy show anything on film that should make fans feel better about the day they had covered Ole Miss’ receivers? We’ll also discuss how Abdul Carter was playing before his injury in the second quarter. 

Passing attack has issues before third quarter

Why didn’t Penn State get the ball to running back Nick Singleton more on Saturday? We’ll detail how the game flow radically altered the plan in the second half. Then we’ll discuss the day that the offensive line had in pass protection Allar. 

While it’s easy to point to the general dysfunction of the Penn State offense on Saturday, Allar does share in the blame for the performance. We’ll take you through some of the issues hidden behind his decisions to check the ball down or scramble. We’ll talk about how Allar suffered from some of the issues he seemingly overcame at the end of the season before regressing this past weekend. 

Join the BWI Live show today at 10 a.m. on YouTube! 

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