Blue White Illustrated

S E P T E M B E R   1 9 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 15 Penn State has been racking up points at a near-historic pace lately. The Nit- tany Lions have won by at least 45 points each of the past two weeks, something that hasn't happened at PSU since 1947. The Lions have scored 159 points in their first three games, including 63 points last week against Kent State. They've now had at least one 60-point game in three consecutive seasons, a feat they hadn't accomplished since the mid- 1990s. It's a lot of glitter to add to a fast start for the Nittany Lions. But in many ways, it's just that: glitter. They are 3-0, and that's the most important part. But as head coach James Franklin cautioned in his postgame news conference Saturday, no one should be misled by the gaudy numbers. There are some underlying is- sues that still make you wrinkle your nose. "There's a whole bunch of stuff that's on that tape that's ugly and smells bad, and winning sometimes is like the deodorant that covers it up," Franklin said. "The funk, perfume, cologne – whatever you want to spray over it – that's the win. It doesn't mean that you still can't correct the issues and the problems, because they're there." It was the penalties that he first dis- cussed Saturday aBer the game. On only the second play of the game, a holding call against center Michal Menet negated Trace McSorley's 56-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Hamler. Then on its first defensive series, which lasted 11 plays, Penn State was called three times for jumping offside, with veteran defensive end Shareef Miller picking up the first of those penalties. "There were times when we looked like a Super Bowl team, flashes of really good things," Franklin said. "Then there were other times when we were really hurting ourselves, and the opponent had nothing to do with it. We can't do that. So we have to be more consistent in everything we do, especially defensively. We have to elimi- nate pre-snap penalties." Defensive tackle Robert Windsor was charged with the second encroachment penalty, and it gave Kent State a first down on a fourth-down conversion at- tempt. Defensive tackle Ellison Jordan was flagged for the third penalty. It gave quarterback Woody Barrett an opportu- nity to take a risk, as he knew that Kent State could just accept the penalty if any- thing bad happened. So he threw deep and completed the pass for a 47-yard touchdown that tied the score, 7-7. In practice the week before the game, Penn State had made a concerted effort to prepare for the speed and tempo of Kent State's offense. McSorley and the first- team offense practiced against Miller, Windsor and first-team defense, aiming to give them the best look possible. Line- backer Cam Brown said that "it definitely helped seeing it at practice [because] when you get used to something and you come into the game and you're not shocked, it makes it a lot easier to diag- nose what they're doing." But even with a talented offense like Penn State's, was the practice version an exact replica? "At some points no, honestly," Brown said. "[Kent State was] pretty fast and it was impressive how they got it done. That's something that we're clearly going to have to work on, but I feel like we ad- justed." ABer that first drive, the defense settled in. There were only two more defensive penalties called against Penn State the rest of the game, and neither one was for jumping offside. ABerward, players sug- gested that Barrett's snap count caught them off-guard at first. In practice, the focus was on running a play as fast as possible, getting to the ball and getting ready for the next play. What the Lions weren't able to replicate was All's well that ends well? Not necessarily Sullivan-Brown dashed 66 yards for a touchdown against Kent State, but his re- ception was negated by a hold- ing penalty. The Nittany Lions had three touchdowns called back in their win over the Golden Flashes. Photo by Steve Manuel A N A L Y S I S B Y T I M O W E N

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