Blue White Illustrated

How do you mentally change the fourth-quarter culture in close games? Elite teams win those games. Tough programs such as Iowa and Michigan State have mastered it. What do we do? 1.) hire a consultant; 2.) recruit more two- and three-star players who are just more mentally tough and may have less skill. lkuchler It's not super complicated. We simply need to be able to execute better. We need to develop the ability to grind out or manufacture some tough yards in the fourth quarter. Our offensive line and scheme have shown a number of times that they have no consistent ability to get yards when we must get yards and grind away time. In that situation, since our line doesn't have the ability to dominate and get 4 yards per carry when the defense is putting eight in the box, we need to do something else on first or second down (pass, end-around, etc.). We've seen the same thing happen time after time. The same issues manifest in the red zone. We lack the ability to consistently punch it in. I'm like a broken record, but that third-down fade to Juwan Johnson from the 5 or 6 was absolute desperation because we had nothing else to call in that situation to punch it in. The way that game was going, we absolutely needed seven points there. People have been calling for different fomations or adding the pistol or something, but we just don't see anything different. dkm228 For one, play to win. On Penn State's last possession before Michigan State scored, we ran three straight times not playing for the first down. It made no sense trying to take time off the clock, because Michigan State was going to have a shot either way with three timeouts left. gorki11 We need bigger leads, like 30 points. Seriously, we are missing two key in- gredients: 1.) a punishing offensive line so that we can run the ball; 2.) a de- fensive line that is able to impose its will. You need to pressure the quarterback in pressure situations and long down-and-distances. We can't do either. PSUPride1 Things haven't worked out this year for some reason. And I cut the players some slack. Less so for the coaches. Maybe they are afraid to challenge James Franklin when he needs to be challenged? BobE The defensive backs did a great job jumping routes, but they have to catch the balls that are right there. Amani Oruwariye usually does a good job there, but [against Michigan State] he didn't make the plays that would have ended the game. That being said, I don't put the loss on the defense because we should have been able to make a first down to end the game. Even if it means rolling Trace out and hitting a tight end on a drag route. Just something to move the chains and end the game. Brazillm10 S I T E L I N E S B W I . R I V A L S . C O M R E A D E R S W E I G H I N points and 218 yards of offense, well below its output to that point in the season. With that performance in mind, Franklin stressed that scheme was not the main problem in Penn State's defeat. "We held one of the most explosive of- fenses in the country way under their yardage and point totals," he said. "But come the fourth quarter, we didn't have enough left in the tank. We're always going to be improving to get better in our fundamentals and techniques and things like that. There are always going to be some things that we can do a little bit better to help schemewise, too, but I think obviously, based on how the game went for three quarters, I think our plan was pretty good." Also, while it's easy to blame the de- fense for faltering late in games, it bears mentioning that Penn State's offense hasn't been effective in its recent come- from-ahead losses. In the five games in which the Lions have squandered late leads during the past two-plus seasons, their offense has produced a total of 13 fourth-quarter points. It also bears mentioning that Penn State has pulled off some comebacks of its own, as in its Big Ten Championship Game victory over Wisconsin two years ago in which it trailed by a field goal heading into the fourth quarter before scoring 10 unanswered points for a 38- 31 victory. Earlier this year against Ap- palachian State, PSU scored the tying touchdown with 42 seconds left, then won in overtime, 45-38. But the Lions have gotten back to a po- sition in which they are measuring themselves against the best teams in the country. Being competitive against those kind of teams is only part of the battle. The other part is to develop the depth that is necessary to convert fourth- quarter leads into victories. As their past two games against Ohio State have showed, there's still some work to be done. ■ BWI magazine editor Matt Herb con- tributed to this report.

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