Path to Victory: Three things Penn State football must do to beat Rutgers
Penn State enters a noon clash with Rutgers on Saturday in Beaver Stadium seeking a 15th consecutive victory over the Scarlet Knights, whose last win in State College came in 1988.
The Nittany Lions are looking to bounce back from a closely contested home loss to Michigan, while Rutgers needs one more win to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2014.
Let’s dive into three things the Nittany Lions must do to emerge with a win.
1. Make Rutgers one-dimensional
The Scarlet Knights get about 146 of their 327 total yards per game on the ground, on average. But they aren’t terrible efficient in that aspect.
Rutgers averages just 3.6 yards per carry, collectively. Lead back Isaih Pacheco picks up 3.9 yards on average when he carries the ball.
Rutgers has the worst team run blocking grade in the Big Ten, according to Pro Football Focus, at 54.0. For reference, Penn State’s run blocking grade for the season sits at 65.4 — and we all know how difficult it has been for the Nittany Lions to get things going on the ground.
Pacheco has proven pretty adept at picking up the hard yards this season so far. He’s picked up 418 of his 567 rushing yards after contact, according to PFF.
The Nittany Lion front seven will need to tackle well to limit his production.
The Penn State defense has done well against the run the last two weeks limiting Michigan’s elite rushing attack to 3.5 yards per carry last week and holding Maryland under two yards per rush the week before.
An opportunity certainly exists here for the Nittany Lions to turn the Scarlet Knights into a one-dimensional offense. If they can do that, they should win this game.
2. Keep Penn State QB Sean Clifford upright
The major criticism of Penn State’s offensive line this season has involved its run blocking problems, but last week the Nittany Lions were horrific in pass protection as well.
Quarterback Sean Clifford was visibly banged up. Michigan sacked him seven times and hit him five more times, ripping apart the PSU offensive line consistently throughout the game.
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Question marks have been cast over the status of Rasheed Walker, Caedan Wallace and Mike Miranda after they did not practice on Wednesday due to a non-COVID illness.
Fortunately for the Nittany Lions, Rutgers doesn’t offer much of a pass rush. In fact, the Scarlet Knights are tied for last in the Big Ten with an average of 1.3 sacks per game.
It’s a nice opportunity for a bounce back day for the Nittany Lions in the trenches. It’s crucial that they take it.
3. Generate a takeaway or two
Greg Schiano and the Scarlet Knights have done a very nice job of limiting their turnovers.
In 2019, Rutgers turned the ball over 23 times in 12 games. Last season — the first of Schiano’s second tenure — the Scarlet Knights gave it away 14 times in nine games. Through 2021, Rutgers has 10 turnovers through 10 games.
There has been a true correlation between ball security and winning for Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have turned it over a grand total of zero times in their five wins this season.
The Nittany Lion defense has at least one takeaway under its belt in each of its 10 games. If Penn State can make it 11, it has a good chance of coming out on top Saturday.
