Blue White Illustrated

LAST WORD D A V I D E C K E R T | D A V I D E C K E R T 9 8 @ G M A I L . C O M ifting through some of the box scores from new Penn State offen- sive coordinator Mike Yurcich's final season in the same role at Okla- homa State in 2018, the outcomes are staggering. The Cowboys had four games with over 600 yards of total offense, includ- ing a 732-yard outburst against Mis- souri State. They put at least 40 points on the scoreboard seven times and sur- passed the 50-point threshold twice. They lost two games in which they put up 47 and 42 points, respectively. Those results show a healthy offense, to be sure, but they're also indicative of an offense that likes to move fast. An of- fense typically does not average 499.4 yards per game if it's taking its sweet time in the huddle and snapping the ball with under five seconds on the play clock every time it lines up. To do that would require serious efficiency and an elite defense that gets the ball back quickly. The Cowboys went 3-6 in Big 12 play that season – do the math. That 2018 season is the most dramatic example of Yurcich's taste for tempo as an offensive coordinator. Oklahoma State ran 2.90 plays per minute of pos- session in that season, slightly edging out Yurcich's first season as the Cow- boys' play-caller, in which they ran 2.84 plays per minute. Under Kirk Ciarrocca last season, Penn State ran 2.43 plays per minute. While it seemed slow and plodding at times, it wasn't a dramatic departure from the Nittany Lions' 2.47 plays per minute in 2019. Since the 2016 season, Penn State has never dropped below 2.38 plays per minute and never risen above 2.58 plays per minute. The contrast with Yurcich's rapid pace during the 2018 season, though, is pretty large. Effectively, that offense was good for nearly one more play every two minutes when compared with Ciar- rocca's offense in 2020. "Tempo is something that's really helped us as an offense," Yurcich said during his introductory press confer- ence. "It can harm you if you're not careful and don't know what you're doing. "The thing that's good about tempo is that you try to minimize the amount of communication the defense can have between snaps, because there's plenty of that – based on your alignments, based on where the [running] back is, based on whether it's three-by-one, based on where the ball is in the middle of the field. So you're trying to really handcuff them into minimizing how much they can communicate in-between each play. They've got to get [themselves] straight, they've got to get their call, and so you're trying to minimize that. "You're also trying to exhaust them. You're trying to wear them out, get them huffing and puffing." James Franklin's decision to part ways with Ciarrocca and hire Yurcich was founded on a desire to turn back the clock on Penn State's offense. Under Ciarrocca's leadership, the Nittany Lions' offense never really recaptured the dynamism it displayed in previous seasons. Trimming down the playbook to its bare bones after a rash of turnovers led to an 0-5 start, Penn State was forced to grind out wins by running the ball, by outmuscling teams, by playing every- thing safe. That's what Ciarrocca is com- fortable with, by all accounts, but it doesn't align with Franklin's vision – or what has worked for the Lions in the past. "A few years ago, we were running the spread, we were mixing in tempo, we were doing a bunch of those things, and it had a lot of success," Franklin said in January. "This, hopefully, is going to get us a little bit closer to that, who we want to be, and what our philosophy is on of- fense. It aligns more with where we're at. But yeah, tempo will be a part of that as well." Here is where there's a bit of uncer- tainty: If Franklin wants to simply revert back to how the Nittany Lions employed tempo in previous seasons, then the change in speed might be minimal, be- cause Ciarrocca's offense in 2020 really wasn't that much slower than anything the Lions had shown before. And, to be sure, Yurcich hasn't always leaned on extreme tempo. His offense at Texas in 2020 ran 2.66 plays per minute of possession. From 2014 to 2016 at Oklahoma State, his offenses ran 2.59, 2.65 and 2.65 plays per minute of pos- session, respectively. His offenses al- ways move fast, certainly, but he's shown he can take the pace down from full sprint to a brisk jog. He's found success doing both. The Cowboys won 10 games in both 2015 and 2016 with offenses that moved a bit slower, then won 10 games again in 2017 with an offense that ran 2.81 plays per minute of possession. One of the main points Yurcich made during his opening press conference was that he intends to tailor his offense each season to the strengths and weaknesses of the players available to him. With an offensive mind of Yurcich's reputation at the helm, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about Penn State's attack in 2021. Whether that offense jogs or sprints will depend on just how much Franklin and the rest of the Lions buy into Yurcich's need for speed. ■ Getting up to speed S

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