Blue White Illustrated

P HIL'S C ORNE R UCF exposes weaknesses that PSU needs to improve When it was all said and done, UCF's offense produced 10 plays (pass and run) that gouged Penn State's defense for 20 or more yards. The Knights' talented junior running back Storm Johnson,averaged 6.9 yards per carry, rushed for 117 yards on 17 carries and delivered two runs over 20 yards, including one of 22 yards and a 58-yard touchdown that gave UCF a 14-7 lead. But UCF's big-play production wasn't restricted to Johnson running with the football. Seven different UCF players produced plays of 20 or more yards. In addition to Johnson's impressive rushing performance, wide receiver Jeff Godfrey, a former quarterback, took a direct snap on second down from the Knight's 11-yard line and ripped off a 49-yard gain setting up UCF's 89-yard TD drive that gave the Knight's a surprising 21-7 lead at the 8:54 mark of the second quarter. UCF's big-play approach wasn't limited to the running game. Four players on offense delivered plays of 20 or more yards from the passing game. Junior J.J. Worton had a 44-yard reception and ended up being the Knights' leading receiver, compiling seven catches for 101 yards. But most impressive of all was the play of Blake Bortles. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 288 yards and three TDs. His only mistake was the interception that he threw with just over a minute left in the second quarter at Penn State's 21-yard line. It was Borles' first interception thrown in 232 passing attempts. It was an impressive offensive per- S E P T E M B E R formance by UCF, but Penn State's defensive coordinator John Butler had to come away from this game knowing his defense has a lot of problems to correct with the Big Ten schedule looming. "We were playing soft coverage at times, so the rush didn't get there, he " said. "We were playing tight coverage at times, and they were throwing the ball and guys were making plays. If you don't get pressure on the quarterback or you don't disrupt the offense, it's going to be tough, and our secondary didn't really disrupt the receivers and our pass rush really didn't get there. " Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Penn State's defensive performance was the way UCF's offensive line manhandled the Nittany Lions' front four. Penn State was able to produce just two tackles for loss and didn't produce a sack or even hurry Bortles once in the pocket. UCF had a superb offensive game plan of double-teaming DaQuan Jones and was able to carry out its big-play approach on offense by completely taking defensive ends Deion Barnes and C.J. Olaniyan out of the equation when they ran the play-action pass. Through three games Barnes has yet to record a sack, while all of the defensive ends have produced just one sack and have been credited with just 2.5 tackles for loss. Last year Penn State's defense lead the Big Ten with 34 sacks and its ends produced 25.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks. Barnes alone had 10 tackles for loss and six sacks last fall. Right now this has to be the most pressing and disappointing aspect of 1 8 , 2 0 1 3 11 Penn State's defensive performance through the first three games of the season. The sole reason why Penn State lost its game to UCF was its inability to control the line of scrimmage on defense and put pressure on Bortles in passing situations. Penn State's offense produced 455 yards of total offense. Christian Hackenberg completed 21 of 28 passes for 262 yards, one TD and didn't throw an interception, while the Nittany Lions rushed for 193 yards. That should have been enough for Penn State to walk away from this game with a win, if only the Nittany Lions had played up to its potential on defense. I think our BWI staff was forgiving with its grade when evaluating Penn State's performance on defense. This had to be a totally frustrating and disappointing day for Butler. I can't imagine he could have ever anticipated that Penn State's front seven would end up being physically dominated at the line of scrimmage. Is there room for hope going forward? I think so. I may be the eternal optimist, but I believe there's the necessary talent to get the job done. Without question Penn State has to discover why its dominant play from its 2012 defense, particularly its from its defense ends, has disappeared in its first three games this fall. Bortles very easily could end up being the best quarterback that Penn State faces this year, but if the aformentioned defensive improvement doesn't happen, then quarterbacks like Nate Sudfield of Indiana, Nathan Scheelhouse of Illinois, Devin Gardner of Michigan and Braxton Miller of Ohio State will look forward to playing against Penn State's defense. BL UE W HI T EON L I N E. COM

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