There was turnover on Penn State’s defense in the offseason.
It was a very good D, too, ranked 14th in the country in total defense.
Coordinator Bob Shoop went to Tennessee. Safety Jordan Lucas and a cast of thousands along the D-line went to the NFL.
Change was inevitable.
But rather sit back on his heels, newly-promoted coordinator Brent Pry – now in his sixth season with head coach James Franklin – got proactive. His charge to the Penn State secondary and linebacking units, especially, was to be more active.
“That was our main focus in spring ball and in camp,” said Penn State junior safety Marcus Allen. “Attack the ball when it’s in flight. When the ball is in the air, it’s ours.
“If the ball-carrier is carrying the ball in the wrong hand, it’s ours. Coach Pry emphasized that throughout the entire camp. We took that and ran with it.”
The result? Three turnovers – two interceptions and a fumble recovery — created by Penn State’s defense against Kent State in the Nittany Lions’ 33-13 victory over Kent State on Saturday.
Two of the Kent State errors led to 14 Penn State points. That’s a big stat for PSU, considering the Nittany Lions turned opponents’ turnovers into only 57 points in all of 2015 and 58 points in 2014.
Allen, in particular, practiced what Pry preached. In the second quarter, Allen’s big hit on Kent State’s Myles Washington led to a fumble that Allen himself recovered. Two plays later, PSU’s Saquon Barkley scored to give Penn State a 13-6 lead.
And just 55 seconds in the second half, a pick-six by Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye broke open the game, after he returned an interception of Kent State’s Justin Agner 30 yards for a score to give PSU a 23-13 lead.
Linebacker Brandon Bell’s interception of an Agner pass on a third-and-26 ended the third quarter and essentially put the game away for good. Essential is right, too. Over the past four seasons, the Nittany Lions’ defense has been the relative strength of the squad, but it hasn’t been the best at creating turnovers – five picks against Rutgers and four vs. Temple, both in 2014, notwithstanding.
They’ve created 85 turnovers in the previous 50 games, an average of 1.7 per game. Pry wanted more, especially given that Penn State’s defense forced one less turnover than its offense gave up over the past three seasons. Total.
RINGS A BELL
“We had been talking about it all offseason, so do it the first game felt good,” said Bell, a senior linebacker and co-captain. “The past three years I’ve been here, we’ve always had good defense. But that’s the one area we could have definitely improved. Stopping the run was great, but we never had spectacular numbers with turnovers. The best teams usually have a good ratio that is very positive.”
Bell did everything right, mentally and physically, to secure the thid pick of his career.
“I dropped back, down the middle of the field,” said Bell, second on the squad in tackles with eight, behind Jason Cabinda’s 11. “Read the field side. There wasn’t much work going on there, so I flipped my hips. As soon as I turned, my eyes bulged in my face. The ball was right there.”
That mentality extended to the secondary’s focus on making quick hits as well. John Reid, blitzing on the corner, contributed to a sack, while backfield mates Christian Campbell had a tackle for a loss and Jordan Smith had a hand in another. Campbell, Smith and Oruwaiye are part of a deep Nittany Lion secondary – led by the steady hand of senior safety Malik Golden — that often had five and even six defenders.
Head coach James Franklin said he was not surprised by the play of the secondary.
“I mentioned all summer that we felt really good about our back seven with our linebackers and defensive backs,” Franklin said. “I thought Marcus Allen played really well, I thought John Reid played really well and obviously Amani made a big play for us. Christian Campbell did some nice things, Malik Golden did some nice things and we feel good about our depth and experience in the secondary.
“…I think you also saw how we were able to go (defensive packages) Money and star with some of our nickel and dime packages and help with that, which is part of our plan.”
ON THE OTHER McHAND
Of course, the other half of the turnover-margin story belongs to the offense. And for Penn State against Kent State, they certainly did their part.
Against Kent State, the Nittany Lion offense reeled off 69 plays (they averaged 67.6 per game in 2015) and turned the ball over just once. That came in the second quarter, when on a first-and-10 from his own 31, quarterback Trace McSorley dropped back to pass and was blindsided off the left side by Kent State’s Terence Waugh. Waugh had rushed past Brendan Mahon, making his first start at left tackle for the Nittany Lions (after making 20 starts at guard the past two seasons). McSorley fumbled the ball and Kent State’s Elcee Refuge picked it up, runnuing 20 yards for a TD that tied the game 13-13.
McSorley also bobbled the ball went Penn State went for it on a fourth-and-1 call on the Kent State 8, ahead 23-13 in the third quarter. McSorley recovered his own drop for a two-yard loss that ended the drive and resulted in zero red zone points (a bit of a Penn State problem on Saturday). His other 12 designed runs – he was 14 of 47 carrying the ball, including the sack – came off without a hitch.
For the Lions and Franklin, the following is even a better trace of news:
In his first-ever start, McSorley was error-free when passing the ball. Counting his time against Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl, over the past seven quarters of Penn State football McSorley has thrown 68 passes with zero interceptions and four TD passes – two vs. Georgia, plus a pair against Kent State (4 yards to DaeSean Hamilton and 30 yards to Mike Gesicki).
“I think overall, when you put 30 points on the board and have over 50% completion, we’d like it to be a little bit higher than that, no doubt,” said Franklin after the game. “but when you can score touchdowns and not turn the ball over? That’s a great place to start.”
As it stands, after one weekend of college football is nearly complete, Penn State ranks tied for eighth nationally in turnover margin, at plus 2.
And that’s certainly a turn(over) for the better.
