Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/752868
in the passing game, he trails only wide- out Chris Godwin in that category. And although the total passing at- tempts for McSorley have been modest, the Nittany Lions have made the most of their opportunities through the air. Through 10 games, Penn State checked in at No. 5 in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 16 yards per comple- tion, trailing only three service academies and another triple-option team in Geor- gia Tech. Meanwhile, McSorley was lead- ing the country with an average of 15.93 yards per completion. Understanding their importance to the offense's success, McSorley said that ex- plosive plays do more than simply pro- duce yards and touchdowns. They also create the conditions that lead to more yards and more touchdowns. "Obviously, getting the chunk plays, you get a little bit of momentum from those and any kind of big play. When we're playing at home, we get our crowd into it and can kind of feed off that en- ergy, but also when we're away we can take their crowd out of it a little bit by getting those chunk plays. I think that's really important for us," McSorley said. "And then after the chunk plays, it's usu- ally a really good time [to] try to use tempo on a team. They're recovering off a big chunk play and trying to refocus everybody, and before they know it, we're snapping the ball and running another play. So I think that's the big thing for us, utilizing the chunk plays and our tempo effectively together." Although Penn State's offensive statis- tics have steadily climbed since its victory against Minnesota, its effectiveness in compiling chunk plays has impacted other areas, and not always for the better. For instance, the Nittany Lions have struggled on third down throughout the season. Converting on only 28 percent of their third-down attempts, the Lions were ranked 124th out of 128 FBS teams through 10 games, while their time of possession was 98th in the country at 27 minutes, 56 seconds per game. But the positives have vastly out- weighed the negatives, as Penn State's scoring average had climbed to 35.5 points per game heading into the Rutgers game, up from 23.2 points a season ago. Franklin said the Nit- tany Lions will continue to work to develop consis- tency as the season winds down, while maintaining their new, ex- plosive identity. "I think we're a good offense right now. Where we have to get better is on third down. If we solve the third-down prob- lem, we'll sustain more drives. We'll also do a better job with time of possession, which will help our defense out," Franklin said. "I don't want to lose the explosive part of our offense, though. Right now I think we're good on offense. [The key] for us to take the next step and become even better on offense is to im- prove on third down. That will have a huge impact." ■ GAME CHANGER Charles' 80-yard touchdown catch allowed Penn State to cut into the Gophers' 13-3 lead in the third quarter. The Lions went on to win the game in overtime. Photo by Steve Manuel