Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/399784
W
hat can fans expect from Penn
State's o;ense during the second
half of the 2014 season?
When you take a look at how one-di-
mensional the Nittany Lions were dur-
ing their :rst :ve games, it's remarkable
that they went into the Michigan game
with a 4-1 record. The statistics say they
should have gone 2-3, maybe even 1-4,
in their games against UCF, Akron, Rut-
gers, Massachusetts and Northwestern.
To see how one-dimensional Penn
State's o;ense was in its :rst :ve games,
all you have to do is look at the Big Ten's
statistical charts. The Nittany Lions
were ranked second in the conference in
pass o;ense, averaging 306.8 yards per
game, going into their visit to Michigan
on Oct. 11, but they were ninth in total
o;ense at 407.8 yards per game. Why so
low? Because they were averaging only
101 yards per game rushing, worst in the
league.
Penn State averaged only 3.1 yards per
carry as a team in those games, and none
of its running backs had totaled 200
yards to that point in the season. That
was disappointing, considering that the
Nittany Lions returned two experienced
ball carriers in Zach Zwinak and Bill Bel-
ton and that those players, along with
Akeel Lynch, had combined to rush for
2,150 yards on 427 carries last fall.
To illustrate how poorly Penn State ran
the ball during the :rst half of this sea-
son, consider that the Lions totaled only
505 yards on the ground leading up to
their visit to the Big House. That average
of 101 rushing yards per game was the
team's worst in decades. Even when the
NCAA sanctions were in full force dur-
ing the 2013 season, the running game
produced 179.1 yards per game and 18
rushing touchdowns.
When Penn State took the field
against UCF in its opening game of the
2014 season, there were indications
that the rushing attack might struggle
initially. After all, there were four first-
time starters on the offensive line, two
of whom had been moved over from the
defense in spring practice and one of
whom was a redshirt freshman who was
coming off a leg injury. But it's unlikely
that many people expected Penn State's
rushing game to be ranked last in the
Big Ten five weeks into the
season.
Penn State entered spring
practice with only 10 healthy
o;ensive linemen (scholarship
players and walk-ons) on its
roster. Le= tackle Donovan
Smith, a redshirt junior, was
the only one of those players
who had started a regular-
season game, having made 20
starts during the previous two
seasons. Brian Gaia and Derek Dowrey
had been moved from defensive tackle to
o;ensive guard, while tackle Andrew
Nelson and reserve guard Brendan Ma-
hon were redshirt freshmen.
This was going to be a di