Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1512721
2 8 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M J ames Franklin made the first in- season coaching change of his Penn State tenure when he fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich on Nov. 12. The Nittany Lions had been averaging 37.7 points through 10 games, but they man- aged just 12 points in a road loss to Ohio State and 15 in a defeat at home against Michigan. In explaining his rationale for Yur- cich's dismissal, Franklin said the Nit- tany Lions simply hadn't been effective enough on the offensive side of the ball to beat the conference's best teams. "Every unit needs to be operating at the very highest level: recruiting, de- velopment, offense, defense, special teams," he said. "We've had times when we have done that, but we have also had times when we've been really strong in certain areas and not strong enough in others." Citing a desire for more collaboration and a focus on putting players in a position to maximize their strengths, Franklin installed running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider and tight ends coach Ty Howle as co-offensive coordinators for the rest of the season. The Lions struggled at times versus Rutgers but did rush for 234 yards in a 27-6 victory. A week later, they over- whelmed Michigan State, totaling 586 yards in a 42-0 romp. Here's a look at how Penn State per- formed during a successful but not en- tirely satisfying regular season. Quarterback Sophomore Drew Allar was coming off a tough outing against Michigan in which he completed 10 of 22 passes for 70 yards. He was not faring much better COURSE CORRECTION After coming up short in its two biggest games, Penn State finds cause for optimism in a late-season surge G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Sophomore Nicholas Singleton amassed 702 rushing yards during the regular season, a 239-yard decline from his total through the first 12 games of his freshman campaign. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL