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ons' personnel during the team's Tax- Slayer Bowl practices. During the search process, only external candidates were considered, as Franklin wanted someone with experience overseeing an offense. "I think it's in the best interest of our players and our program to hire a guy who has been calling plays and has been successful for a number of years," he said. Given that prerequisite, quarterbacks coach Ricky Rahne was not under con- sideration for the job. However, Rahne will serve as offensive coordinator for the TaxSlayer Bowl. When Moorhead takes over, he will in- herit an offense that boasts substantial skill position talent along with a core of returning starters on the offensive line. But the Lions will likely have a huge hole to fill at quarterback, as three-year starter Christian Hackenberg, the school's all-time passing yardage leader, is expected to declare himself el- igible for the NFL Draft after the Tax- Slayer Bowl. Donovan inherited just the opposite when he arrived at Penn State in 2014 along with seven other members of Franklin's staff at Vanderbilt. A 1997 graduate of Johns Hopkins, he had been in coaching for 17 years, in- cluding three seasons as the Com- modores' offensive coordinator. Those three years were among the most suc- cessful in school history. In 2012, Van- derbilt gained 4,936 yards and averaged 30 points per game, both school records. A year later, Donovan's offense broke that scoring mark, averaging 30.1 points per game. By the time he left, his teams had compiled three of the top four of- fensive seasons in school history. But January 2014 was an inopportune time for an offensive coordinator to be- gin at Penn State. Less than a month earlier, the Nittany Lions had lost their best playmaker, as junior wide receiver Allen Robinson announced that he was entering the NFL Draft. Moreover, the Nittany Lions were graduating four of- fensive linemen with substantial start- ing experience, two of whom would go on to play in the NFL. With those play- ers gone, and with the Lions suffering from the effects of the NCAA scholar- ship reductions and a series of offen- sive line signings under previous coaching regimes that, for a variety of reasons, didn't work out, the offense plummeted to the bottom rungs of the Big Ten statistical charts in nearly every category. Penn State averaged only 101.9 rushing yards per game in 2014, worst in the conference, and was 13th in total offense with an average of 335.3 yards per game. Hackenberg managed to throw for 229 yards per game, but his touchdown-in- terception ratio went from 20-10 as a freshman to 12-15 as a sophomore. Worst of all were the sacks. The Nittany Lions gave up 44, a nightmarish total that went a long way toward explaining their league-worst scoring average of 20.6 points per game. Hopes began to rise during the off- season, buoyed by a Pinstripe Bowl vic- tory over Boston College in which Penn State generated 453 yards of total of- fense. But the 2015 season opener at Temple was a disaster, as the Owls to- taled 10 sacks in a 27-10 romp. And while that game turned out to be the of- fense's nadir, the subsequent improve- ments were less than dramatic. Penn State went on to average 23.7 points and 344 yards per game during the regular season, finishing 13th in the Big Ten in the latter category. Pass protection was a major problem, as the Nittany Lions surrendered 39 sacks to once again lead the league. One of the consequences of their inability to protect Hackenberg was that the Lions finished with a 28.1 percent third-down conversion rate to rank 125th out of 127 teams in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision. Franklin acknowledged late in the reg- ular season that the offense "was behind where we want to be." Getting back on schedule won't be a simple task, espe- cially if Hackenberg announces his de- parture in the coming weeks. But Moor- head said he's eager to begin that process. Said the coach, "I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work." ■ In search for fix, players are what matter most W hen James Franklin announced a staff change immediately follow- ing the conclusion of the Nittany Li- ons' 2015 regular season, the quest for more information began in earnest. John Donovan, Penn State's offen- sive coordinator for the past two sea- sons, had been "relieved of his duties, effective immediately," the school's press release said. That fans and me- dia immediately turned their collec- tive attention to the possibilities for his replacement should not have come as much of a surprise. In the first week of his search, it was hard to characterize Franklin's process as anything but buttoned down. There simply wasn't much real, hard infor- mation to be had out there. But during a teleconference with re- porters previewing the bowl game in which Franklin finally addressed at length the process of finding a suc- cessor for Donovan, a few tidbits of information started to emerge. And Penn State fans, I really think you're all going to be so, so pleased with the direction the program's of- fense is going to take. Another year of patience is probably going to be re- quired, but after that, there is every JUDGMENT CALL

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