Penn State offense regains footing in win over Minnesota

Mitchell Tinsley rejected the notion outright. Beaming from Penn State’s 45-17 win over Minnesota on Saturday night, the Nittany Lion receiver was asked what had changed from the week prior.

Then dropping a 41-17 decision at No. 5 Michigan, Penn State’s offense was stagnant and stymied. Dynamic and explosive against the Gophers, Penn State topping 300 yards through the air and 175 yards on the ground, with six touchdowns scored, the transfer receiver offered his view.

The offense wasn’t different, he said. Penn State’s ability to execute it was.

“I think we were executing on all levels today, (with the) run game, the passing game. And I feel like when we do those things, we’re hard to beat,” Tinsley said, finishing with four catches for 58 yards and a touchdown in the win. “But I didn’t think we were doing anything different. I just think last week we didn’t execute, at all. And I think we executed very well today.”

Penn State’s rebound performance

By nearly every metric, that sentiment bore out on the statistics page afterward.

Struggling to get out of the gates early, Penn State stuttered to a pair of three-and-outs. It was accompanyied by boos from the Beaver Stadium crowd, too. But, the offense found its footing at last in the second quarter. Beginning with a Jake Pinegar field goal from 41 yards to get on the board, the Nittany Lions followed the effort with back-to-back touchdowns to their tight ends.

First cashing in on a 38-yard connection between Sean Clifford and Tyler Warren to take a 10-3 lead at the 9:05 mark in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions quickly followed it with an 18-yard strike from Clifford to Theo Johnson to take a two-score lead. Johnson’s first touchdown of the season, the exploitation of Minnesota’s defense was one Penn State hadn’t tried to force.

Rather, according to head coach James Franklin, the Nittany Lion offense demonstrated its versatility. Between Clifford, his targets, and the ground game, Penn State had six different players score touchdowns on the night. 

“There are going to be weeks, obviously based on game planning and matchups, that you may emphasize a certain position or a certain guy. But really, a lot of times it just depends on how the defense plays out and where the ball goes,” Franklin said. “So, there was a little bit of an emphasis (to get the ball to the tight ends), but it’s not like we did anything different tonight. It’s just how the game played out and how the defense reacted to our schemes. Sean just went where the defense told us to go. 

“Sometimes that’s going to be the running backs. Sometimes that’s gonna be the wideouts. And sometimes, that’s going to be the tight ends. But I do think when Parker Washington touches the ball a bunch and when our tight ends touch the ball a bunch, I think we’re at our best. But there’s a lot of guys obviously that we want to get involved and I think that’s when we’re difficult to defend.”

Offensive diversity

For Clifford’s part, he finished completing 16 of his 20 final throws on the evening. In all, his 23 completions on 31 attempts were good for 295 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. 

Aided in the effort by true freshmen running backs Nicholas Singleton (13 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns) and Kaytron Allen (15 for 77), Penn State’s offense had success in every facet of the game.

“We were able to stick with the game plan and stick with the run. I thought we had a lot of diversity in our play calling tonight, whether it was play action pass, shots, whether it was getting the tight ends involved, getting Parker Washington involved,” Franklin said. “And then those two running backs. I thought that the run Kaytron had early on, when he ran over the safety was a big-time run. It got us going. And then obviously Nick was able to break one there at the end. So we just got to keep chipping away at it. 

“We were able to run the ball a little bit more consistently. We got to continue to build on that. And we’re also protecting.”

Set to face Ohio State at Beaver Stadium next Saturday, the Nittany Lions will be counting on it continuing.