Blue White Illustrated

PHIL'S CORNER Sanctions are only part of PSU's problems this season ne can't help but be impressed with the way Bill O'Brien and his coaching staff have responded to the difficult situation they inherited when they took over a program that was about to be hit with sweeping NCAA penalties. Not for one moment has O'Brien tried to use the sanctions as an excuse for disappointing performances. The Nittany Lions have had problems on offense throughout the season, particularly in road losses to Indiana, Ohio State and Minnesota and the overtime victory over Illinois at Beaver Stadium. And yet morale has remained high throughout this up-and-down season, in large part because of O'Brien's positive approach. "There's a lot to play for, he said. " "There's the respect of your opponent, there's your teammates, there's the tradition of Penn State football. At Penn State, there will never be a question of what there is to play for." How the Nittany Lions perform at the end of their season will go a long way toward determining the demeanor of the team going into winter workouts and spring practice. Next season could prove to be the turning point for Penn State after the ordeal of the past 24 months. Because of the recent modifications to the NCAA sanctions, O'Brien and his staff will be allowed to recruit a full complement of 25 players in 2015 and will be allowed to have 80 players on their scholarship roster. They will have the full complement of 85 players in 2016. The 2014 season will be a transitional year for Penn State. The team will have O 75 players on its scholarship roster and will sign between 20 and 23 players this coming February. It is possible that Penn State will have the opportunity to compete for the Big Ten championship and play in a bowl game. It will definitely get to kick off its season in Ireland on Aug. 31 against Central Florida. If the bowl ban is indeed rescinded in the spring, it would be a morale-boosting development for everyone involved in Penn State's football program, from players, coaches and support personnel to fans. But while Penn State is undoubtedly going to improve as it gets out from under the sanction-related weight it has been carrying since July 2012, the team has other issues it must address that have nothing to do with the NCAA. If you take a good, hard look at Penn State's offense, almost every player who has been in the starting lineup on a regular basis this year would have been a starter had the sanctions never been imposed. The only notable exception is running back Bill Belton, who became a first-team player when Silas Redd left for Southern Cal prior to the 2012 season. Those players have put together some impressive numbers, even in Penn State's losses. Belton ran for 346 yards and averaged close to 6 yards per carry against Ohio State, Illinois and Minnesota, and Zach Zwinak ran for 150 yards against the Gophers. Zwinak was a 1,000-yard rusher in 2012, and as of this writing, Belton was the seventh-leading rusher in the Big Ten with 715 yards on 135 carries and four rushing touchdowns. So the performance of the tailbacks can't explain the inconsistency Penn State's offense has experienced throughout the 2013 season. When you combine what Belton, Zwinak and Akeel Lynch have done on the ground with the fact that Christian Hackenberg was second in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (243) through nine games, the Lions shouldn't be struggling on offense. But struggle they have. Through nine games, they were 10th in the Big Ten in scoring offense (27.6 points per game) and fifth in total offense (427.2 ypg) and had put together three poor performances in a row against Ohio State, Illinois and Minnesota. How to explain their difficulties? Let's begin by throwing out the Ohio State game in which the Nittany Lions were totally outclassed and instead focus on their performances against Illinois and Minnesota. In their 24-17 overtime victory over the Illini, Penn State generated 465 yards of total offense in the first four quarters but only scored 17 points. Against Minnesota, Zwinak and Belton combined to rush for 197 yards on 33 carries. With that type of dominance at the line of scrimmage, Penn State should have easily scored 14 to 17 points in the second half but instead was held scoreless. The Lions drove inside Minnesota's 25-yard line three times in the second half and came away empty all three times. Those two offensive performances against teams they dominated at the point of attack best illustrate the problems the Nittany Lions have had on offense this season. And it isn't hard to pinpoint why those problems have occurred. No major-college offense is going to be consistent if it ranks last in its conference in turnover margin and only scores on 80 percent of its red zone opportunities. That's exactly what's Penn State's offense has done this season. Going into their game against Purdue, the Nittany Lions were 12th in the Big Ten with a turnover a margin of minus-.78 per game. They had fumbled 11 times, losing eight, and Hackenberg had been intercepted eight times. For Penn State to make a substantial

• Cover