Blue White Illustrated

I f you were to take a statistical overview of the performance of Penn State's de- fense through the 8rst nine games of the 2018 season, you might come away thinking that coordinator Brent Pry's unit hadn't come close to performing up to the preseason hopes that some people had held for it. The Nittany Lions went into their Nov. 10 matchup with Wisconsin ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten standings in almost every major defensive cate- gory. They were ninth in the conference in scoring defense, having given up 24.4 points per game. In addition, they were seventh in total defense with an average of 388.6 yards per game, 10th in rushing defense (172.2 ypg) and sixth in pass de- fense (216.3 ypg). There were a handful of categories in which the Lions were near the top of the standings, such as pass-e:ciency de- fense, where they were ranked third with a rating of 110.5, and sacks, where they were tied with Michigan for the league lead with 29. But those were the exceptions. For the most part, the num- bers were worse than they were in 2017. A year ago, Penn State was second in the conference in scoring defense (16.5 ppg), 8;h in total defense (329.5 ypg), 8;h in rushing defense (118.0 ypg) and eighth in pass defense (211.5 ypg). Even though this year's team had improved its Big Ten ranking in pass defense, going from eighth to sixth, it was still allowing more yards than it did a year earlier. On the surface, one might expect those numbers to set o9 alarm bells for Pry and head coach James Franklin. But in reality, just the opposite has taken place. Given the team's extensive graduation losses, it's hard to imagine that anyone on Penn State's coaching sta9 was ex- pecting this year's defense to not miss a beat. The Nittany Lions entered the 2018 season with nine new starters on the defensive side of the ball. Gone were last year's top three defensive tackles (Curtis Cothran, Parker Cothren and Tyrell Chavis), three linebackers with starting experience (Jason Cabinda, Brandon Smith and Manny Bowen) and the entire starting secondary (Marcus Allen, Troy Apke, Grant Haley and Christian Campbell). Then it was an- nounced during preseason practice in August that defensive ends Ryan Buch- holz and Torrence Brown had been forced to give up football because of health concerns. Buchholz had been dealing with ongoing back pain, while Brown su9ered a serious knee injury last season and wasn't able to return to ac- tion. With those types of losses on de- fense, it would have been unrealistic for Franklin and Pry to expect Penn State to play at the same level it had maintained throughout the 2017 sea- son. There was bound to be some re- gression; the big question for the team was whether it had enough offensive firepower to remain in title contention while the defense was overhauling its depth chart. The answer to that question has turned out to be no. As of this writing, the Nittany Lions had dropped games to Ohio State, Michigan State and Michi- gan, and while the defense struggled at times against those three opponents, particularly in the second half of the games against the Buckeyes and Wolver- ines, it was not the reason why the team fell short. Going into the season, the Lions' of- fense was expected to be the driving force behind what many believed would be a legitimate run at the Big Ten East Division title. It was an o9ense led by a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarter- back in Trace McSorley, four returning starters on the o9ensive line, an elite high school running back prospect in Miles Sanders and a wide receiver corps that was considered to be one of the best in the Big Ten. In 2017, Penn State ranked 8;h in the conference in rushing o9ense (170.2 ypg), 8rst in pass o9ense (290.2 ypg) and second in total o9ense (460.3 ypg). The Nittany Lions were at or near the top of several other key o9ensive statistical categories, and with McSorley and a number of other major contributors re- turning, and with several highly re- garded freshmen ready to make their debuts, there was every reason to believe that this year's preseason optimism was justi8ed. But heading into its game against Wisconsin, Penn State hadn't come close to matching those numbers. The Nittany Lions were ranked fifth in the Big Ten in total offense (429.1 ypg), sixth in rushing offense (207.9 ypg), ninth in passing offense (221.1 ypg), seventh in pass efficiency with a rating of 132.8, 11th in third-down conver- sions (34.2 percent) and 13th in com- pletion percentage (53.5). There were only a few statistical cate- gories in which the Lions were ap- proaching or exceeding last year's production. One of those categories was scoring offense (second, 37.2 ppg), which is, admittedly, a good category in which to be highly ranked. Also, the Lions had been successful in the red zone, converting 35 of 37 opportunities (94.6 percent) to rank second in the conference behind Maryland. But a lot PHIL'S CORNER Young standouts have helped lift Nittany Lions' outlook on defense

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