Blue White Illustrated

V S . K E N T U C K Y biggest question marks," Franklin said. "I think as the season goes on, our defense is playing better. Why are they playing better? Because of our D-line is starting to get better and play with more con=- dence from a depth perspective. And the same thing with our linebackers. We've got some young players who are starting to gain con=dence, and we're starting to have an idea of who our guys are at that position." Penn State's regular-season =nale against Maryland o?ered an illustration of the defense's progress. Running back Anthony McFarland had gouged Indiana and Ohio State for a combined 510 yards in the weeks leading up to the Terrapins' visit to Beaver Stadium. Penn State's coaches knew they would need their de- fensive front to play a disciplined game against a Terps o?ense that relied on shi@s, motions and fakes to sow confu- sion and lure defenders out of position. The Lions had faced a similar scheme in 2016 when Maryland's interim coach, Matt Canada, was Pitt's o?ensive coordi- nator. The Panthers shredded Penn State for 341 rushing yards that day in a 42-39 victory, and it was reasonable to assume that the Terps would seek to do likewise. "They try to get you hesitating for a sec- ond, so now their o?ensive line and tight ends can get leverage on their blocks, and all of a sudden [McFarland] comes screaming out of there," Franklin ex- plained a few days before the game. "What we've got to do is boil it down for our guys so that they're con=dent with their responsibilities and don't get caught up with the drapes or the paint or the shiny things that they use to try to get your attention, and really try to focus on what they're actually trying to get ac- complished." As it turned out, the Lions didn't fall prey to Maryland's trickery. McFarland gained only 12 yards on six carries before leaving the game with an injury, and backup Javon Leake didn't fare much bet- ter, gaining only 34 yards on 11 carries. The Terps weren't able to hit any of the jet sweeps that had been among their most e?ective o?ensive plays earlier in the sea- son, nor were they able to pass the ball with much consistency, =nishing with 185 yards through the air. Franklin said a@erward that the key was to make sure every player knew his as- signment and didn't feel tempted to free- lance. "We compartmentalized: You guys [on the perimeter] are going to handle the >y sweep, and you guys, the core of the defense, are going to deal with the runs in the box," he said. "It worked out really well for us. I think there were a couple of times where Micah got out of his gap and got a?ected by it, but overall, I thought we played really well. Our defensive line is just playing at a really high level right now." With seven starters expected to return next season, it looks as though the Nit- tany Lions will have the manpower to continue their rise. The only full-time starters who will exhaust their eligibility in the Citrus Bowl are Oruwariye, safety Nick Scott and outside linebacker Koa Farmer. One other player who may depart is defensive end Shareef Miller. The red- shirt junior is coming o? a regular season in which he was third on the team in sacks with seven and second in tackles for loss with 14, and he appears primed to leave early for the NFL Dra@. But even if Miller departs, the Lions will still be expected to return 28 of the 34 defensive players who were listed on the depth chart for the Maryland game. Does defense still win championships? A recent Google search of that Bear Bryant-coined football aphorism re- turned 212,000 results, so it must still hold true to a lot of people. But the past three Big Ten championships have been won by teams that were far more potent on the o?ensive side of the ball than on defense. Penn State ranked second in the league in total o?ense and eighth in total defense when it won the title in 2016. Last year's champ, Ohio State, ranked =rst in the former category and fourth in the lat- ter, and that trend continued this year. When the Big Ten's leader in total de- fense, Michigan, met its leader in total of- fense, Ohio State, on the =nal day of the regular season, the result was a 62-39 Buckeyes victory. Ohio State went on to claim its second consecutive league title despite surrendering nearly 26 points per game to rank seventh in the conference in scoring defense. Looking beyond the Big Ten, you see the same pattern. For example, of the four teams in this year's College Football Play- o?, three are ranked among the top =ve teams in the country in scoring o?ense, with Oklahoma =rst, Alabama second and Clemson =@h. Notre Dame is the outlier in 33rd place. When it comes to scoring defense, Alabama and Clemson are in the top =ve, but Notre Dame is 11th and Okla- homa 100th. Could a team with the 100th-best o?ense in the country ever hope to receive consideration for the playo?, much less qualify over the likes of Georgia and Ohio State? Seems unlikely. Penn State's calling card in recent years has been its o?ense, led by star players like Trace McSorley, Saquon Barkley, Mike Gesicki and Chris Godwin. But defense has been a big part of the program's his- toric identity from the days of Jack Ham and Mike Reid through the glory years of the 1980s and on into the Big Ten era, with future NFL stalwarts Paul Posluszny, Sean Lee and NaVorro Bowman all getting their start at Linebacker U. Next season, the Nittany Lions' defense will likely boast at least as much star power as the o?ense. It could be the best defense Penn State has =elded since the 2014 season, when it allowed only 18.6 points per game to rank seventh in the country. That history is not lost on the current generation of players. Shelton, a former three-star prospect from Westerville, Ohio, watched Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson when he was younger, and he paid close attention to how Parker Cothren and Curtis Cothran went about their business last year. A big part of his motivation heading into the 2018 season came from his desire to live up to the ex- ample those players set. "I think the reason why we are the way we are is because of them, because we fol- lowed their example," Shelton said. "You could look at any position. … Watching those [older] guys playing, it's like, 'We have to be like that. We have to at least play up to that standard.' " ■

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