Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> MIXED SIGNALS An up-and-down start raises concerns as Lions head into backstretch | t couldn't have been much fun to break down the film of Penn State's 27-26 loss to Ohio State a few weeks ago. Watching the Nittany Lions' fourth-quarter collapse in real time was hard enough. But when James Franklin and his assis- tants reviewed the tapes of the Ohio State game, they saw a team that looked better than the one that only four weeks earlier had needed a fourth-quarter rally and an overtime period to put away Ap- palachian State. The result may not have been to anyone's liking against the Buckeyes, but the effort and the overall performance were a step up from what Franklin had seen in previous games. That upward trajectory was an encour- aging sign. "What I'm always looking at is, have we improved every single week?" Franklin said. "I can't imagine there would be anybody out there who follows Penn State closely who doesn't feel like we haven't improved every single week from App State all the way to Ohio State. I think we did that. Obviously, we didn't do enough to win the game. We'll look at all those things in great detail. We're going to go back and do all our self- studies and see where our tendencies are and areas that we still need to improve and those types of things. … Obviously, this is painful and it hurts, but I do think when used the right way, this could fuel us to continue to grow and continue to take that next step." The Lions did not take that step against Michigan State two weeks later. If anything, they appeared to regress in some areas on offense, as the downfield passing game all but disappeared against an opponent that had been sur- rendering more than 300 yards per game through the air. The Lions were 4-2 coming out of their loss to Michigan State, with their four victories coming over unranked op- ponents that had compiled an 11-14 record as of this writing. Penn State thrashed those opponents by a com- bined margin of 222-78, with App State accounting for nearly half of those points. The Lions' success at turning close games into laughers was a testa- ment to the kind of playmakers they have assembled in their past few re- cruiting classes. But nothing came easy against Ohio State and Michigan State, and PSU's remaining opponents have a lot more in common with those two op- ponents than its first four. The midseason grades that follow were made with an eye toward those chal- lenges, which include a visit to Michigan and home games against Iowa and Wis- consin. Here's a position-by-position look at how the Lions were shaping up entering the season's second half: QUARTERBACK THE GOOD As expected, Trace McSorley has been one of the Big Ten's top play- makers so far this season, ranking fourth in the conference in total offense at 281.3 yards per game. Through six games, he was eighth in the league in both passing average (206.8 yards per game) and rushing average (74.5 ypg). Also, third- team QB Sean Clifford showed a lot of potential while filling in for injured backup Tommy Stevens. Of his five com- pletions in the first half of the season, two were for scores. Said Franklin, "The guy refuses to do anything but throw touchdown passes. Pretty cool for him." Cool indeed. Especially if he keeps it up. THE BAD McSorley's completion rate has dipped from 66.5 percent as a red- shirt junior to 54.1 this season. That's by far the lowest percentage of any of the Big Ten's top 10 quarterbacks. In fact, through the season's first six weeks, the only other one of those QBs with a com- pletion rate below 60 percent was Wis- consin's Alex Hornibrook. In his defense, the Lions' receivers have dropped a lot of catchable balls. Another disappointment was Stevens' unavail- ability in the team's first four games. It prevented PSU from deploying its "Lion" package, and even when he re- turned to the field against Ohio State, the alignment was ineffective early in the game and was quickly abandoned. FRANKLIN SAYS "If you're a quarter- back out there, watch Trace McSorley. The guy has been winning since he was in diapers. All he does is win. … The guy is a model in terms of how you conduct yourself at the most critical position in all of sports." SUMMARY McSorley's season has been a bit of a conundrum so far. The Lions' passing game has been erratic, but you could make a case that their leader is only a few plays away from being a legit- imate Heisman Trophy contender. Mc- Sorley's performance against Ohio State was one for the ages, as he accounted for a school-record 461 yards of total of- fense. You can't really ask for that on a weekly basis, but the Lions will need big things from McSorley if they're going to turn their season around in the second half. He's certainly shown that he's ca- pable of delivering.................. GRADE B RUNNING BACK THE GOOD Showing off his vision and tackle-breaking strength, Miles Sanders got off to a tremendous start in his first season as the Nittany Lions' starter at running back, racking up 495 yards in the team's first four games. That was only 23 I M I D S E A S O N R E P O R T C A R D

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