Blue White Illustrated

T his past July, I predicted in these pages that Penn State had an excel- lent chance of 6nishing the season with an 8-4 record if a certain number of positive developments took place. I felt that way despite the fact that the Nittany Lions' 2016 schedule was their toughest since the NCAA imposed its sanctions in July 2012. The Lions' three- game nonconference slate had two very solid opponents in Pitt and Temple, and their nine-game Big Ten schedule fea- tured four preseason top-15 teams in Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa and Michi- gan State. A lot of people seemed to think my prediction was overly optimistic consid- ering that the Lions were operating under new o8ensive and defensive coor- dinators and were without three of their best defensive players in NFL-bound linemen Austin Johnson, Carl Nassib and Anthony Zettel. For that prediction to become reality, Penn State needed to make strides in several critical areas. On o8ense, the line needed to perform at a much higher level than it did last season in order to keep the quarterbacks upright. If that didn't happen, Trace McSorley and/or Tommy Stevens would have grass stains all over their uniforms, and the Nittany Lions wouldn't be able to take full ad- vantage of their talent surplus at run- ning back and wide receiver. On defense, new coordinator Brent Pry had to develop a solid four- or 6ve-man rotation at tackle to replace Johnson and Zettel. He also needed his linebackers to stay healthy, particularly Nyeem Wart- man-White and Brandon Bell. If Penn State were able to rebuild those two po- sition groups in time to face a September schedule that featured Kent State, Pitt, Temple and Michigan on consecutive Saturdays, I felt there was an excellent chance the team could emerge with a 3-1 record going into October. Wins over Kent State, Pitt and Temple were all but required, because the road game against Michigan was going to be one of the toughest of the season. The Lions got o8 to a slow start in their opener against the Golden Flashes, pulling away for a 33-13 victory a9er leading by only a 6eld goal, 16-13, at hal9ime. But even though it took them 30 minutes to get going, I was convinced that their strong performance in the second half would serve as a nice springboard into the game at Pitt. The o8ensive line had a credible perform- ance against a solid Kent State defense, and Penn State's front seven settled down in the second half, giving indica- tions that it did indeed have the man- power to 6eld a solid rotation at defensive tackle. In addition, Wartman- White appeared to be physically sound coming o8 of last year's season-ending knee injury. There were still a lot of questions to be answered, but Penn State appeared to be in a good position for its game against the Panthers. That perception changed dramatically following Pitt's opening drive of the game. The Panthers 7attened Penn State, covering 99 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown. They had four "chunk" plays on the drive, with gains of 24, 38, 23 and 10 yards. Except for their 10-yard shovel pass to tight end Scott Orndo8, the Panthers gained all their yardage on the ground, averaging 9.9 yards per carry. By halftime, Pitt had amassed 226 rushing yards and a 28-14 lead. Heading into the second half, I had doubts about whether Penn State would be competi- tive the rest of the afternoon. But not only were the Lions competitive, they had a chance to win the game on their final possession. Behind McSorley's ac- curate passing, Penn State came within a whisper of producing one of the greatest comebacks in the program's history. But that didn't happen. And the reason it didn't happen is because Penn State, which has the second-fewest seniors of any team at the FBS level, wasn't able to answer its biggest questions on both of- fense and defense in time to pull out a victory. The Lions' performance in that game has given rise to concerns about how it will fare against its upcoming Big Ten opponents. They opened with Michigan PSU must address these priorities as conference season heats up PHIL'S CORNER ON THE RUN The Lions must protect McSorley if their of- fense is to thrive this season. Photo by Steve Manuel

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