“All-22” coaches film is the coin of the realm in meeting rooms across college football and the NFL. Shot from the end zone, high above the field, the film shows all 22 players on every play. It’s the broadest possible overview, with the ability to zero in on the smallest nuance or opponent nuisance.
That’s the goal of my All-22 post-game weekend breakdowns for the 2023 Penn State football season, to give a look at the Nittany Lion game just played and the experiences around it — with an emphasis on game analysis, PSU people, hidden statistics and the college football experience that is unique to Penn State, home and away.
Based on Saturday night in a crazy Beaver Stadium, the 2023 season is sure to be special. I’ve seen a few of those; the first Nittany Lion football game I covered was as a Penn State freshman for The Daily Collegian — Penn State’s 24-3 Homecoming victory over Army in 1979, as Matt Suhey ran for 225 yards and two touchdowns.
With that, let’s go All-22 on Penn State’s season-opening 38-15 victory over West Virginia, who last played in Beaver Stadium in 1991 (a 51-6 Penn State win).
1. It was an emotional weekend for longtime DC Tom Bradley, who was an honorary co-captain along with Allen Robinson — Penn State’s all-time single season receptions leader (97), now a Pittsburgh Steeler. The last time Scrap was in Beaver Stadium for a football game was Nov. 12, 2011, an uber-emotional contest just days after he took over as interim head coach when Joe Paterno was fired. A total of 4,312 days had gone by before he returned on Saturday, to a thunderous ovation.
2. It was too long of a gap for a man who was such a key part of Penn State football for 452 games — 48 as a player, 399 as an assistant and five as interim head coach, with an overall record of 325-115-2 (.721). Credit athletic director Patrick Kraft as the one who made it happen. And it was a big deal when Bradley and James Franklin hugged on the sidelines after the coin toss.
What was the best part for Bradley, who shared as we chatted by phone Sunday when he was taking an early morning walk in downtown State College? “Walking out on the field,” he said. “I realized, maybe more than ever, that I was part of something bigger than myself.”
3. It was also a reunion weekend for former QB Todd Blackledge, who was the analyst for NBC’s prime-time broadcast. A 1983 Penn State honors graduate, Blackledge was the consummate student-athlete back in the day. He spent part of a very hectic Friday afternoon in Carnegie Cinema on campus, talking to a packed house of students, faculty and alumni.
Blackledge was funny, thoughtful and grateful— he had special praise for Whiteout creator and marketing/broadcast whiz Guido D’Elia. “Everyone needs a mentor, and Guido has been mine for decades,” Todd said.
Blackledge’s best story: After beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to win Penn State’s first national championship, Blackledge and clutch-TD WR Gregg Garrity missed the team bus to the Penn State hotel, and had to hitch-hike — both wearing suits, both smoking cigars, Blackledge clutching the MVP trophy and Garrity holding the game ball. The driver of the van who picked them up was from Tennessee, and years later when Blackledge was calling a game in Neyland Stadium, the guy hit him up for tickets. Todd found him four.
4. Beaver Stadium was a confluence of iconic PSU QBs on Saturday — most of them from the Buckeye State. Drew Allar is from Medina, and after winning his first start in style, he is 1-0. Blackledge, from North Canton (and now based in Charlotte), was 29-4 as a Nittany Lion starter. (Michael Robinson, the hero of the 2005 season and a Virginian, was there, too, as part of NBC’s on-site studio show.)
Also in Beaver Stadium was Green Packers quarterback and former Nittany Lion seemingly forever Sean Clifford, from Cincinnati. Cliff was 32-14 as a starter, the most wins by a starting quarterback in Penn State history. Blackledge is tied for fourth, at 29 with Tony Sacca. Trace McSorley, is No. 2, with 31.
Add in two other starting quarterbacks from Ohio, John Shaffer and Darryl Clark, and you have quite the crowded Mount Rushmore of Penn State QBs from that state. Shaffer was 25-1 as a starter, with a national title, and Clark was 22-4. Add up the records of Blackledge, Shaffer, Cliff, Clark and Allar, and you have the Ohio-to-Penn State combined starting record of 108-23 (.824).
5. Penn State quarterbacks have thrown for 300 yards a total of 48 times. Allar, who started 9 of 10 for 165 yards and finished 21 of 29 for 325 yards and three TDs, is one of them. And surely many more to come. Christian Hackenberg, who holds the single-game record of 454 yards in Dublin vs. UCF in 2014, has had nine 300-games. Trace McSorley is the leader, with 10. Here are the 300-yard passing games by Penn State QBs who were in Beaver Stadium on Saturday:
Clifford (8) – 401 vs. Villanova, 2021 (2nd all-time)
Robinson (1) – 379 vs. Wisconsin, 2003 (8th)
Blackledge (1) – 358 vs. Miami, 1981 (15th)
Allar (1) – 325 vs. West Virginia, 2023 (tie, 29th)
6. Speaking of Clifford starts, WR Liam — Sean’s younger brother and Limitless sports agency business partner — drew the start as WR3. He had a pair of grabs for 25 yards; Liam knows how to operate the middle of the field. Sean’s Tweet of Liam on the Beaver Stadium scoreboard being announced as a starter — LETS GOOO!!!! @liamcliff17 — drew over 2,200 likes and 103,000 views…and counting.
7. Overall, nine different Penn State players had a catch on Saturday. Great distribution. But…there was only one completion to a tight end, Tyler Warren, for nine yards. TE Theo Johnson was targeted only once. Warren excelled as an inside blocker, though.
8. Make that eight consecutive games Penn State has scored over 30 points. It’s a streak that started in 2022 with 45 points vs. Minnesota and includes 31 against Ohio State (albeit the Buckeyes scored 44). OC Mike Yurcich, now in Year 3 and calling the game this year from the press box, has found his groove, as Penn State has scored 314 points and averaged 39.25 per game in that stretch.
9. The Penn State record for most consecutive games with 30 points or more has its roots in the 1994 season. Of course. The 12-0 Nittany Lions’ offense of Collins, Brady, Engram and Carter set a single-season record for most points scored in a season (564). Counting the last three games of 1993, Penn State in 1993-94 went 15 consecutive games scoring at least 30 points. The second-longest 30+ points streak came in 2016-17 at 10 games. In 2017-18, the Nittany Lions also had eight straight games with 30+ points. With Illinois, Iowa and Ohio State in three of Penn State’s next six games, that current streak will be challenged. The Buckeyes would be Game No. 14.
10. It was a slow tackle day for two of Penn State’s much-hyped defensive stars. DE Chop Robinson only had a pair of tackles, while LB Abdul Carter had just one. But that was well-timed, for an 11-yard sack on a West Virginia fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter. (WVU was 3-of-6 on fourth down conversions and 4-of-14 on third down.) LB Curtis Jacobs led the Nittany Lions with 10 tackles, seven of them solos.
11. Penn State was nearly flawless in two categories that are hallmarks of a well-coached, disciplined team, especially in the season opener. Penn State did not turn the ball over — neither did West Virginia— and the Nittany Lions had just one penalty, a false start on gunner Cam Miller on a punt. (WVU had five penalties.) Allar did toss the ball in the hands of a West Virginia defender, who dropped it.
12. Miller saw a bit more time than usual, as nickel corner and special teams stalwart Daequan Hardy did not play. We learned that Hardy was out two hours before game time, per the Big Ten’s new rule that teams must share an “availability report.” Interestingly, Penn State’s PR folks did not share the report; to find out who is not available, you must go to the Big Ten website.
13. Among the dozen Nittany Lions on the “out” list were Hardy and DE Coziah Izzard. Also listed were OG Landon Tengwall, who announced his medical retirement this past week, and DT Alonso Ford Jr., a transfer from Old Dominion, who is out this year following leg surgery. WR Omari Evans was one of two players who were “questionable.” Evans, who some folks had as WR3, did not play.
14. The NCAA rule impacting the game clock after first downs went into effect on Saturday. For the first time in over 50 years, the game clock will no longer be stopped after the offense picks up a first down, except for the last two minutes of the second and fourth quarters. The game moves quicker and there are fewer plays, which was the case on Saturday. In 2022, Penn State’s offense averaged 70 plays per game and, in fact, so did its opponents. On Saturday, Penn State’s offense had 65 plays (35 run, 30 pass), while West Virginia had 67 (40 run, 27 pass). Essentially, the new rule cost each team a drive.
15. Tough day for third-year PK Sander Sahaydak, who missed a 38-yard field goal attempt from the right hashmark and a 34-yarder from dead center. He came out of Liberty High School in Bethlehem as Rivals.com’s No. 3 kicker in the nation. But, in his first two seasons at Penn State, he attempted just two field goals, the make coming from 20 yards vs. Rutgers last year. In high school, he made 19 field goals, and was 10 of 12 with a career-long of 53 yards as a junior.
16. The kicker’s job is now Alex Felkins’ to lose. He made a 25-yard chip shot after Sahaydak was benched. Franklin craves consistency and reliability (a kicker once told me this is what special teams are all about). Felkins has that. A native of Oklahoma, Felkins spent 2019-2022 at Ivy League Columbia. In three seasons — Columbia did not play in 2020 due to COVID — Felkins was 36 of 54 (.667, literally two out of every three) with long FGs of 51 and 53 yards. He’s had seasons of 11 of 16, 16 of 24 and 9-14, and now 1-1.
17. The Beaver Stadium helmet-stripe crowd on Saturday night was just 143 shy of the all-time attendance record. As it was, the 110,747 on hand is the fourth-largest crowd in the 391 games played there since 1960 (not counting covid season 2020, which had attendance restrictions). The Top 3:
1. 111,889 – Sept. 29, 2018 – Ohio State 27, Penn State 26
2. 110,823 – Oct. 21, 2017 – Penn State 42, Michigan 13
3. 110,753 – Sept. 14, 2002 – Penn State 40, Nebraska 7
18. Not counted among that number were that squirrel who scored a touchdown and a praying mantis that was on the outside window of the Beaver Stadium press box, going eye-to-eye with Audrey Snyder of The Athletic. For the past several years, I’ve had the legit pleasure to sit between Audrey and my StateCollege.com colleague Ben Jones for home games, a real treat — they are savvy, 107% focused, insightful, saucy and see the game 179 degrees differently.
19. LG Sal Wormley swears by his quarterback — who we learned swears at him. The funniest, most candid post-game quote from a Penn State player came from Wormley, about Allar:
“I heard Drew curse for the first time, in the huddle…It was a (first and 10) situation. We just got out of the huddle and the dude was trying to make his IDs. The dude wanted us to get down and get set. He made sure that we knew what he wanted us to do. So, he says, ‘Let’s get the f— down and let’s go!’ We had 25 seconds on the clock. He wanted to make his calls and stuff. I thought it was funny because I never heard him curse like that.
“Other than that, he did exactly what I thought he was going to do. He made adjustments, he made checks — firmly, loud, aggressive.”
20. KeAndre Lambert-Smith made good on his offseason promise to be WR1, after catching three passes for 124 yards and a TD in the Rose Bowl. (He had just 16 receptions in his first 11 games of 2022.) Against WVU, KLS had four catches for 123 yards and two TDs. That’s 30.75 yards per reception, 10th in the nation.
“I definitely see something different in Dre this year,” said fellow WR Trey Wallace. “He has that dog in him and feels like he has to go out and do whatever has to in order to show it.”
21. Wallace was a big dog himself with plenty of bite. He had seven receptions for 72 yards. His hands? Oh my. Wallace was targeted eight times, and made those seven catches. Credit to Allar as well.
22. A bit too early for an Allarmerican campaign, but the PSU QB is well-positioned across major college football after Week 1. Nationally, Allar ranks No. 15 in passing efficiency (200.7), No. 14 in passing yards per game (325), No. 16 in total offense (326) and No. 10 in yards per pass attempt (11.21). He’s tops in the Big Ten in all those categories. He also ranks No. 15 in yards per pass completion (15.48), second in the Big Ten.
