With seven games down and five to go, Penn State is still searching for its first win over a power conference opponent. With No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana next on the docket, that’s a difficult task.
While the defense deserves its fair share of blame for the failures, the Nittany Lions’ offense hasn’t lived up to expectations in any sense this season. On Wednesday afternoon, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki met with the media and discussed his team’s struggles.
“The reality is, it hasn’t gone like we’re hoping,” Kotelnicki said. “And what do you do? You go to the next play, you go to the next game, you go to the next moment and opportunity. But I don’t really have a good explanation for where it is.”
The unit ranks No. 99 nationally in yards per game and No. 38 in points per game, both middle of the pack among Big Ten teams, with glaring issues in both the run and pass game.
Running back Nick Singleton, who was named a preseason All-American, is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry on 76 touches, on pace for easily his worst season as a Nittany Lion. He’s arguably been the biggest underachiever, which Kotelnicki addressed on the first question.
“He’s got great speed, and we need to do a good job of getting him on the perimeter, allowing him to get some edges and where his speed can show up,” Kotelnicki said. “His superpower has been when he finds the windows.”
Kotelnicki cited lackluster blocking from teammates as a contributor to Singleton’s struggles, with the senior’s longest run sitting at just 16 yards.
At quarterback, Ethan Grunkemeyer stepped into the starting role for the first time at Iowa in place of the injured Drew Allar. While Kotelnicki said his play-calling hasn’t changed much due to their similar arm talent, it wasn’t an impressive outing, albeit in difficult circumstances.
“His first start in that kind of an environment, I thought those things he handled really, really well,” Kotelnicki said. “You know, I was not displeased with his performance. It’s nothing to hang your head about, but there’s still some meat on the bone.”
Kotelnicki said Grunkemeyer’s strengths lie in his legs, with both good footwork in the pocket and a better running ability than Allar. Kotelnicki also praised Grunkemeyer’s ability to get the ball out quickly, conceding he sometimes made the wrong reads, “but those are things that you would expect to say about somebody who got their first career start.”
“He’s got that first game under his belt now, so you really hope that things will take off for him, and what he’s doing in his decision making, and just go out there and play, cut it loose, which is one of my favorite things about him,” Kotelnicki said.
Looking at the lack of production from the wide receiver room, Kotelnicki broke it down simply, saying the three main aspects are getting good protection from the offensive line, an accurate pass from the quarterback and a good catch from the wide receiver.
Without getting into specifics, he said at many points this season, one or more of the three elements has been missing, and they’ve been working in practice to correct those issues.
When asked about the lack of playing time for redshirt freshman Tyseer Denmark and true freshman Koby Howard, who have combined for one catch this season after earning constant offseason hype, Kotelnicki asked “Who’s coming off (the field)?”
Kotelnicki commended them for their quickness and said Howard has impressed with contested catches throughout practice, but neither have earned a role over the three starters, Kyron Hudson, Devonte Ross and Trebor Peña.
