Penn State’s defense under coordinator Manny Diaz has pretty well cornered the market on just about everything, including not being on the field.
That’s right, so far this season the Nittany Lion defense has faced just 278 snaps, a mark only bettered by four other teams nationally that have played five games this season [Michigan, Air Force, Florida and Ohio]. It’s a figure that pairs nicely with Penn State’s offense leading the nation in time of possession – but of course sitting on the ball on offense doesn’t mean a defense can get off the field.
How noteworthy is that mark of 278 snaps – a figure even less for starters when you consider Penn State hasn’t gone into a fourth quarter with much to prove so far this season? Though five games last season Penn State had faced 361 snaps, in 2021 that figure was 363. The COVID year saw 336 snaps in the first five games while Penn State’s defense in 2019 held the previous five-game mark high of 334 snaps of the last few seasons.
It stands to reason that Penn State’s defense will have to work harder as the year goes along, the Nittany Lions facing the likes of Ohio State and Michigan sooner rather than later. All the same the Nittany Lion defense has been on the field for fewer than 50 snaps twice this season, a benchmark that Penn State had only matched on three occasions since 2009. Playing a trio of teams like Northwestern, Iowa and Delaware did a bit to pump those stats, but it’s not as though this is the first time Penn State has never faced bad offensive teams before.
Nearing the midway point of the year Penn State might not be feeling the benefits of fresh legs just yet, but that day could come down the road according to Assistant AD for Athletic Performance Chuck Losey.
“Our guys are always consistent to be honest with you,” Losey said on Tuesday. “When we train on Sundays when we train on Wednesdays with the entire team, the travel squads our guys have always been outstanding about it. So to see a surface level change, you know, do they look fresher? I don’t know because we’ve always been really good in that sense. I know it’s going to benefit us going down the road for the second half of the year. But our guys are always been good with it. They’ve always attacked and they always know the expectation of what the end season is like. So just on the surface level. No, I haven’t seen a big change, but I expect to in the next few weeks once we get into the second half of the stretch.”
For the majority of Penn State’s remaining schedule it might not matter how long the Nittany Lions’ are on the field, but being fresh for the biggest games of the year certainly couldn’t hurt. With the Nittany Lions facing an off week and then UMass, Penn State could see its defense sit around just 120 or so game reps between the Northwestern game and the start of Ohio State – or a span of 20 days. As for the Buckeyes themselves, Penn State has averaged 75 defensive snaps a game over the previous seven meetings against Ohio State topping out at 83 on two occasions while last season’s clash saw Penn State’s defense on the field for just 60 snaps.
And the Wolverines? It’s a similar story, Penn State’s defense sitting at a 72 snaps per game average against Michigan topping out at 84 in 2016 while the 2020 win saw Penn State’s defense on the field for just 55 snaps. It’s unlike that this year’s meeting will be as lopsided, with six of the last seven meetings requiring 69 or more defensive snaps from the Nittany Lions’ defensive unit.
As for coming in fresh? A late season meeting against Michigan is unavoidable, but Penn State could head to Columbus with the freshest the Nittany Lions have been since the 2018 clash [299 snaps through four games that year] outside of a Week 2 meeting during COVID. It might not seem like much, but every little detail matters in the biggest games of the year.
