Blue White Illustrated

W 32 TEAM MEETING O'Brien confers with backup quarterback Paul Jones and quarterbacks coach Charlie Fisher during a break in the Blue-White Game this past April. ERIC THOMAS|B L U E WH I T E C O N T R I B U T O R hat Penn State's polished and finished offense will look like come Sept. 1 is anyone's guess. But it sure is fun speculating about all the changes, isn't it? With the spring game in the rear-view mirror and new head coach Bill O'Brien done with his world tour and Q-and-A sessions, it's time to dissect what the 2012 version of the Nittany Lions might look like under his direc- tion. In case you've been away for the past several months, here's a quick recap of the coaching changes… First, O'Brien is hired to replace Tom Bradley, who replaced Joe Paterno. Fresh off a Super Bowl appearance with the New England Patriots and his departure from his post as Tom Brady's offensive coordinator, O'Brien A U G U S T 2 1 , 2 0 1 2 tabs passing-game guru Charlie Fish- er, formerly Jay Cutler's position coach at Vanderbilt, to work with Penn State's quarterbacks. Stan Hixon is brought in as receivers coach, Charles London hops aboard as run- ning backs coach, while John Strollo is hired to coach the tight ends. Also, in one of the biggest coups of O'Brien's short tenure, former Texas assistant Mac McWhorter is hired as the new of- fensive line coach. At his introductory news confer- ence in January, O'Brien said Penn State will run what he called a "game plan offense." So what exactly is a game plan offense? To answer that question, let's exam- ine O'Brien's final season in New England. The Patriots fared pretty well in 2011. More than pretty well, you could say. They won the AFC East, defeated Denver and Baltimore en route to the conference title and reached Super Bowl XLVI, where they fell to the New York Giants. Along the way, the Patriots ranked third in the league in scoring, second in yards and averaged a lofty 6.9 yards per play. Nine times, including playoff games, Brady threw for 310 yards or better. In- cluded in his dazzling statistical port- folio was a season-opening victory over Miami in which the Patriots amassed 516 passing yards. There's also an interesting hidden stat in the list of gaudy numbers that Steve Manuel the team compiled: It punted only 57 times. That number illustrates just how thoroughly the Patriots con- trolled the tempo of their games. They totaled 399 first downs, good for second overall in the NFL, and 262 of those first downs were picked up through the air. In other words, when the Patriots had the ball, they moved it, even when they didn't score. Including the playoffs, New England amassed more than 400 yards of of- fense in 12 games. It had 509 yards against the Broncos in the divisional round, a 45-10 thrashing. And Brady? He threw for a career-best 5,235 yards and 39 touchdowns in another MVP-caliber season. It would be highly unrealistic to think that any college offense could op- W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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