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F A S T F O R W A R D >> A N E A R L Y L O O K the Huskies to believe that they were going to get off the field, only to hit one drive-extending pass after another on third down. As a team, the Nittany Lions converted 13 of 17 third downs in the game, and McSorley was almost super- natural, completing all 12 of his third- down passing attempts for 193 yards and two touchdowns. He had known going into the Fiesta Bowl that he and his receivers would have to be precise against an aggressive Huskies secondary. "We knew that it was going to be a challenge, that they were going to come up and try to press us at the line and not give us a lot air, suffocate the air out of the zone and we would have to win against man [coverage] and be accu- rate with the ball," he said. They did just that, and McSorley's per- formance in particular left coaches on both sidelines impressed. Washington's Chris Petersen said that for all the praise that had been showered on Saquon Barkley throughout his career, McSorley was the problem that defenses couldn't solve. "As good as Barkley is, I think it's that quarterback who makes the whole offense go," Petersen said. "He did a ter- rific job tonight." To Franklin, the Fiesta Bowl was just more of the same. He had spent the pre- vious two seasons watching McSorley or- chestrate a passing game that often had no choice but to deliver big yardage, since opponents were focused on taking away Barkley's running lanes. More often than not, the three-time Virginia state cham- pion was able to do that, leading Penn State to a 22-5 record as a starter. Said Franklin, "I can't imagine there's a better quarterback in the country in terms of decision-making and leadership and toughness. He's very accurate." McSorley finished his redshirt junior season as the Big Ten's leading passer, with an average of 274.6 yards per game. He also led in total offense with a 312.4- yard average and was second behind Ohio State's J.T. Barrett in pass efficiency with a 153.7 rating. He'll be looking to continue those trends next season with a new running back beside him in the backfield, some new pass-catching targets taking over for departing stars Mike Gesicki and DaeSean Hamilton, and a new offensive coordina- tor in the booth in Ricky Rahne. The Nit- tany Lions' offense, while not expected to undergo a major schematic overhaul fol- lowing Joe Moorhead's departure, will need to find some new playmakers. That will be a challenge, particularly with respect to Barkley, as players of his caliber don't come along every year, or even every decade. But the Lions do have a big advantage in that one of McSorley's talents has been his ability to distribute the ball to a variety of players rather than leaning hard one or two favorites. Four- teen players caught passes for Penn State this past season, and four players had more than 50 catches apiece. That ten- dency makes it easier to replace any one player, even a player as talented as Barkley. "I think that's one of the things we do a great job of," Franklin said. "These guys are unselfish. We don't have one receiver with 100 receptions who's leading the conference, but it makes it really difficult to defend us because there are so many guys who can hurt you: our tight ends, our receivers, our running backs. And Trace just does a great job of going through his progressions and taking what the defense gives." Indeed, it all starts with the guy who's deciding where to go with the ball. As long as he's in the game – and he almost always is – this offense is going to get its points. ■ TRACE McSORLEY GAME-BY-GAME PASSING RUSHING OPP ATT COMP PCT YDS TD INT LONG SACK-YDS EFFIC ATT YDS AVG TD Akron 25 18 72.0 280 2 1 43 0-0 184.48 12 48 4.0 1 Pitt 28 15 53.6 164 3 1 46 1-7 130.99 8 65 8.1 0 Georgia State 23 18 78.3 164 3 0 85 0-0 248.50 3 24 8.0 1 Iowa 48 31 64.6 284 1 1 23 4-12 116.99 17 61 3.6 0 Indiana 36 23 63.9 315 2 1 36 5-34 150.17 16 -19 -1.2 1 Northwestern 34 25 73.5 245 1 0 38 4-29 143.76 16 -1 -0.1 1 Michigan 26 17 65.4 282 1 1 42 2-11 161.49 11 76 6.9 3 Ohio State 29 17 58.6 192 2 0 37 2-9 136.99 13 49 3.8 1 Michigan St. 47 26 55.3 381 3 3 70 3-13 131.71 7 2 0.3 0 Rutgers 21 16 76.2 214 2 0 25 2-16 193.22 13 44 3.4 1 Nebraska 36 24 66.7 325 3 0 43 2-4 170.00 9 46 5.1 1 Maryland 33 22 66.7 237 2 0 32 1-10 146.99 7 36 5.1 1 Washington 41 32 78.0 342 2 2 48 1-1 154.46 12 60 5.0 0 TOTAL 427 284 66.5 3,570 28 10 85 27-146 153.70 144 491 3.4 11

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