It’s time for more numbers.
With the out of conference portion of the schedule over and done, Penn State’s competition is only going to get tougher, and in turn the good stats will mean more and the bad ones will become more and more costly if they aren’t addressed. In general the Nittany Lions have seen their figures trend in the right direction, a good sign for everyone involved.
The stats we’re tracking against the rest of the nation might change as the year goes along, but for now we’ll stick to the ones we looked at the first two weeks of the season. Some good and some bad, but all keys to the Nittany Lions’ success or failure in 2018.
Offensive yards: Week 1 (64th) Week 2 (77th) Week 3 (31st)
Throwing in a bonus to this category Penn State is currently ranked 5th in scoring offense nationally averaging 53 points a game. That just 3.7 points fewer than Alabama and basically the same from Ohio State. Stands to reason that everyone is going to see their averages go down as the games get tougher, but when it comes to beating teams into the ground, Penn State is doing it as well as anyone. In terms of actual yards it probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise the average goes up after a game that included the longest touchdown pass in program history when the game was already over.
Passing yards: Week 1 (58th) Week 2 (86th) Week 3 (55th)
After what was easily Trace McSorley’s best game of the year this number is bouncing back in the right direction. In the end how many yards you pass for isn’t really as important as what you do with them, but this has been a bread and butter aspect of the offense the past two years. Penn State isn’t trying to lead the nation through the air, the offense is too balanced, but this number should still be above average. Games like last Saturday help that cause. And there are worse things than the current average of 251 passing yards a game. Up top it’s Texas Tech, a team that might not ever actually run the ball, with 448 yards, Ohio State is is 9th with 348 yards a game.
Penalty yards: Week 1 (Tied for best) Week 2 (6th) Week 3 (40th)
Penn State has only been called for 15 penalties this year which feels like the total Penn State had in the first half last week. The issue has been the timing with three different penalties taking three different touchdowns off the board. Add in a negated long return against Pitt to the mix and Penn State is making mental mistakes at the worst moments. It’s one thing to jump offsides, it’s another thing with 20-percent of your penalties are taking points off the board.
So in many ways Penn State isn’t taking many penalties, 30th fewest in the nation, but the Nittany Lions are committing them at the worst times.
Tackles for a loss allowed: Week 1 (2nd) Week 2 (61th) Week 3 (49th)
This one is also trending in the right direction as another opponent couldn’t get into the backfield with much consistency on Saturday. This stat will probably have good weeks and bad, but after being one of the worst teams in the nation in this department last year, literally anything is better than that. Penn State doesn’t need to be elite in this area, it just has to be more consistent. So far so good with just 15 allowed so far this year.
Scoring defense: Week 1 (103th) Week 2 (60th) Week 3 (33rd)
It should come as a shock to literally nobody that two games where the opposing team doesn’t really score points does wonders for your scoring defense average. It’ll be a matter of where this number goes against better teams in the Big Ten that will make a difference, but to the Nittany Lions’ credit, for all the moments that make you scratch your head, this unit is doing its job keeping teams off the scoreboard th past two weeks.
