Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 2 3 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 9 Coming out of preseason practice, Penn State's defense, particularly its front seven, received mixed reviews from the media. The Nittany Lions' starting linebacker unit, consisting of Jason Cabinda in the middle, Nyeem Wartman-White at Will OLB and Brandon Bell at the Sam OLB spot, was rated by many as one of the better trios in the Big Ten. But depth at all three positions appeared to be non- existent. That's why there was a con- sensus among followers of Penn State football that Bell, Cabinda and Wart- man-White needed to stay healthy or the Nittany Lions' defense was in seri- ous trouble. Couple the apparent absence of depth at linebacker with the departure of All- Big Ten defensive linemen Carl Nassib, Austin Johnson and Anthony Zettel, and it was easy to understand why Penn State's defense was viewed heading into the season as suspect at best, particu- larly against the run. And then the worst-case scenario came true. Cabinda broke his leB thumb in the opener against Kent State, Bell suffered a hamstring injury in the sec- ond game of the season against Pitt, and Wartman-White was lost for the year with an ACL injury in week three against Temple. By the time the Big Ten season began on Sept. 24 at Michigan, it appeared that Penn State was just try- ing to find a way to keep opponents from running wild. In those first six games of the season, Penn State's front seven was battered and bruised. Pitt rushed for 341 yards in a 42-39 win. Michigan ran for 326 yards in a 49-10 victory. Minnesota rushed for 228 yards, although Penn State found a way to beat the Golden Go- phers, 29-26, in overtime. Even Mary- land ran for 170 yards, despite losing to the Nittany Lions, 38-10. Penn State won four of its first six games, but it allowed an average of 208.8 rushing yards and 28.5 points per game. With games on the horizon against Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan State, it appeared that a 6-6 or 7-5 record was the best any Nittany Lion fan could reasonably hope for. No one could have anticipated that the overtime victory over Minnesota would be the beginning of a seven-game win- ning streak, but that's exactly what happened. Most of the credit for Penn State's rise to the No. 7 position in the College Football Playoff poll was placed at the feet of new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and the offense's two key playmakers, running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Trace McSor- ley. Moorhead, McSorley and Barkley de- serve all the recognition they have re- ceived, but what has all but gone unnoticed is the total and complete transformation of the defense since Bell and Cabinda returned to the starting lineup for the Oct. 22 game against Ohio State. From the moment they stepped on the field against the Buckeyes, those two players have had a huge impact on Penn State's success. Bell was the team's leading tackler against Ohio State with 18 stops, while Cabinda had 13. In the five games in which Bell and Cabinda have been in the starting lineup, Penn State's opponents have av- eraged only 78.6 yards rushing and 18 points. Safeties Marcus Allen and Malik Golden are still the team's two leading tacklers with 83 and 57 stops, respec- tively. But the fact that Bell (56) and Cabinda (54) are the next two on the Nittany Lions' leader board clearly shows how crucial they have been to Penn State's defensive performance. In addition to stabilizing its situation at linebacker, Penn State has developed a six-man rotation at defensive tackle (Tyrell Chavis, Curtis Cothran, Parker Cothren, Kevin Givens, Antoine White and Robert Windsor) and a five-man rotation at defensive end (Torrence Brown, Ryan Buchholz, Shareef Miller, Evan Schwan and Garrett Sickels). Those positive steps have helped the Lions amass an impressive 94 tackles for loss and 32 sacks. The front seven has been responsible for 77.5 of those tackles for loss and 31.5 of the sacks. Cothren told reporters following the Rutgers game that Penn State's defense was performing at a much higher level than it had earlier in the season. "Everything is clicking right now," he said. "We're definitely playing at a higher caliber, and I think that's a testa- ment to our team just not giving up when things were shaky at the begin- ning. And now things are going good. Instead of being complacent, we're working harder now, and I think that's what's taking us to the next level." The leadership that Bell and Cabinda bring to Penn State's defense was evi- dent in Cabinda's comments aBer the game against the Scarlet Knights. "You have to go out and perform, and you can always find areas where you can im- prove when you look at the film," he said. "You can never be satisfied with your performance. You've just got to stay humble and stay hungry. I think those are the biggest two keys for this team right now. "We're humble and we're hungry." We'll see on Saturday whether that focused approach helps Penn State de- feat Michigan State. A victory over the Spartans would give the Nittany Lions their first 10-win regular season since 2009. If it does indeed happen, I'll echo ESPN's lead college football analyst, Kirk Herbstreit, who on Saturday called Penn State "the story of the year in col- lege football." Cabinda, Bell playing pivotal roles in Nittany Lions' breakthrough season PHIL'S CORNER

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