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PHIL'S CORNER Penn State can win eight games if it improves in these areas epending on your viewpoint and how you evaluated Penn State's unique situation going into the season, the team's 4-2 record through its first six games could have been seen as either a disappointment or a job well done. But with the second half of the season now under way, I'd like to concentrate on the things the Nittany Lions need to accomplish if they're to have a chance of going 4-2 in the season's backstretch. The road certainly won't be easy. Penn State began the second half of its season Saturday at Ohio State and now must face Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The Lions are unlikely to be favored against Nebraska or Wisconsin, even though the first of those two games will take place at Beaver Stadium. Bearing that in mind, let's take a position-by-position look at the offense and see what Penn State will need to do if it's to produce its second consecutive 8-4 record under Bill O'Brien. My evaluation of the defense will appear in the Oct. 30 edition of the BWI Xpress newsletter. QUARTERBACK Christian Hackenberg was completing a Big Ten-best 71.7 percent of his passes through the first three weeks of the season. That rate had dipped to 58.4 percent following the Nittany Lions' thrilling 43-40 fourovertime victory over Michigan, but Penn State fans shouldn't be alarmed. O'Brien made it clear following the Michigan game that he was quite pleased with Hackenberg's success in handling the offense. And how could anyone not be impressed after that game? Hacken- D berg led the Lions on an 80-yard scoring drive in the final 50 seconds to tie the score and give his team a chance to win in overtime. "I think Christian is obviously a very mature quarterback for being 18 years old, O'Brien said. "He's a fun guy to " coach. Some of that was training, and it paid off. " On the surface, those comments might not seem revelatory, but they indicate to me that O'Brien has complete faith in his quarterback. Even so, Hackenberg is only seven games into his college career, and there's a long way to go. One area that is likely to be a focus going forward is knowing when to get rid of the ball to avoid a sack. Through six games, Penn State was tied for 10th in the Big Ten with 15 sacks for 104 yards in losses. The Lions were surrendering an average of 2.5 sacks per game, and as O'Brien noted on several occasions, those sacks weren't entirely the fault of the offensive line. Hackenberg has echoed O'Brien, stating in postgame news conferences that he needs to develop a more precise internal clock and make better decisions about getting rid of the football. As everyone knows, sacks are drive-killers. Heading into the Ohio State game, Penn State had the Big Ten's worst third-down conversion rate (27.8 percent), and that was largely because the offense was all too often faced with third-and-long situations caused by negative-yardage plays. Early in September, especially in Penn State's opener against Syracuse, Hackenberg did a remarkable job of spreading the football around. Eight receivers had catches against the Orange, and Hackenberg completed passes to 10 receivers in the second game of the season against Eastern Michigan. But Matt Lehman and Kyle Carter both got hurt against Syracuse, and for the next several games, Penn State's tight ends did not figure prominently in the passing attack. Jesse James became a blocking tight end, filling the Y position that Lehman had occupied before he was lost for the season with a knee injury. And Carter wasn't fully healthy again until the fifth game of the season against Indiana, in which he totaled six catches for 79 yards. While it was good to see Carter playing a bigger role again, one of Penn State's other key pass-catchers – wideout Brandon Felder – missed the game with an ankle injury. With Felder unavailable, Penn State's passing game became fixated on Allen Robinson, who caught 12 passes for 173 yards. The lack of diversity certainly wasn't the only reason Penn State lost to the Hoosiers, but with a healthy Felder and Carter to go along with James, Eugene Lewis, Richy Anderson, Adam Breneman and Matt Zanellato – plus Bill Belton and Zack Zwinak available to catch passes out of the backfield – Hackenberg should be able to spread the ball around to seven or eight receivers as he did in early September. That's the best way for him to get his completion rate back over 60 percent. RUNNING BACK At the beginning of the season, O'Brien said he was seeking a balanced offensive attack with the running backs playing a highly productive role. When that's happened, Penn State has punished opposing defenses. In the first half of the season, Zwinak, Belton and Akeel Lynch provided the offense with four 100-yard-plus performances. Zwinak ran for 128 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns against UCF. Belton rushed for 108 yards on eight carries and two TDs against Eastern Michigan, and Lynch had two 100-yard performances, gaining 108 yards on 13 carries against Eastern Michigan and 123 yards on 14 carries against Kent State.

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