‘You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.’ – Douglas MacArthur
Within every big-time game between two storied opponents, the players, coaches and fans experience all the emotions and qualities outlined by Gen. MacArthur above. Saturday’s match-up between Ohio State and Penn State under the lights in Beaver Stadium promises the same.
It also promises to put a spotlight on a young football team.
This game features a young team just a few years removed from NCAA sanctions of scholarship reductions and a bowl ban. A junior quarterback leads their spread offense along with a young running back that ranks among the Big Ten’s leading rushers.
Their roster features 76 freshmen and sophomores with a lineup making them the youngest depth chart in the Big Ten by a fairly wide margin. In fact they list only three seniors among the 44 players on their two-deep depth chart (only two are starters).
The team I am talking about is Penn State right? Actually, it’s Ohio State.
The youngest two-deep in the Big Ten belongs to Ohio State a team currently ranked No. 2 in the country with road wins at Oklahoma and Wisconsin. A defense without a single senior starter has allowed only six touchdowns and scored 4 touchdowns.
Saturday night’s match-up is an important gauge for Penn State. Because for all the talk about sanctions and the team’s youth, based on the eligibility of the depth chart players, for the first time this year Penn State will line up across from a younger team. That will happen only one more time this year, when they go to Indiana.
In this game there will be moments of faith, doubt, hope and confidence. Above all it will take all three phases of the team playing in sync — playing what some call “complementary football”.
The concept of complementary football is generally used to mean that offense, defense and special teams run systems and utilize the team’s roster in ways that help all three phases succeed. On game day the head coach orchestrates decisions in reaction to changing situations so no one phase puts the other unit in a bad situation.
For example, Wisconsin has always featured a run-first ball control offense that helps keep their defense off the field. Despite having three different head coaches in those 10 years, their brand of football remained little changed, yielding consistent results and winning 98 games from 2006-15
But there’s another part of complementary football — roster management. That involves developing depth, reacting to injuries and recruiting personnel to the systems a team uses. This year Penn State has had injury issues at linebacker. Those depth issues combine bad luck with the system Penn State plays.
In football as in life, you never get something for nothing. For all the speed and excitement a true spread offense creates, it does so without a lot of tight end and fullback types. With few true tight ends and no fullbacks in your offensive system you don’t recruit a lot of those linebacker profile types into your program– athletic 6-2 to 6-4 guys weighing from 230 to 250 pounds.
With limited numbers of those body types on the roster, there are fewer guys to train to play linebacker. The option is for big safeties to become undersized linebackers who may struggle against a power run game.
The best current example of flexible roster management is the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick signs smart football players with body types and skill sets that in emergencies can play offense or defense. He’s had wide receivers play defensive back, defensive linemen play offense and outside linebackers play tight end.
Penn State’s spread offense has shifted the focus for recruiting offensive talent. Over the past three years Penn State has recruited four tight ends and no fullbacks to go with seven linebackers out of 70 guys signed. That means fewer linebacker types on the roster when injuries occur.
The linebacker types are also traditionally the backbone of your special teams units. That is why so many starters at linebacker play on punt teams and kick teams. It is important to try and keep that position healthy not just for defense but for the whole team. It remains to be seen how the bye week will impact the health of Penn State’s team headed into this week’s game.
One thing is certain there will be not one but two young teams on the field.
Young teams are all the rage in college football. Top 10 teams Clemson and Wisconsin have lineups younger than Penn State’s and the rosters at Washington and Texas A&M are about the same age. That should give Penn State fans the hope that comes with youth.
Saturday night, one way or another youth will be served. It may come down to what MacArthur talked about; the faith, hope and self-confidence that comes with youth may be the difference that leads one team to victory.
