Apparently, Penn State’s defensive coordinator had seen enough.
Four first-half possessions by Minnesota had resulted in four scores – three touchdowns and one field goal. And it wasn’t pretty.
After holding Minnesota to one yard and a field goal on its first possession three weeks ago, the Nittany Lion defense couldn’t do anything right. In successive touchdown drives, the Gophers went 96 yards in 15 plays, 70 yards in 13 plays, and 74 yards in 11 plays, averaging almost exactly six minutes per drive.
A defense that was down – due to injuries, inexperience and poor play – at halftime entered the TCF Bank Stadium locker room out. Out of chances. That’s when the Butler did it. As in D-coordinator John Butler.
“A passionate speech by coach Butler got us going,” said linebacker Mike Hull on Tuesday. “He just said, ‘Lay it all out on the line. Play with a sense of urgency and pride for the rest of the season.’
“I think we’ve taken that speech to heart and done that. … He was pretty animated.” That halftime speech by Butler, who’s animated all right, from the sidelines to three yards onto the playing field, worked. The Nittany Lions shut out Minnesota in the second half, yielding just 83 yards on five drives until the Gophers played ball control on their final possession of the game. Since then, Penn State’s D has banded together and played A defense.
10 QUARTERS THAT MAKE SENSE
That spark was the start. Over the past 10 quarters, Penn State has played defense nearly reminiscent of 2004-09, when Tom Bradley’s group had six consecutive Top 15 finishes in scoring and total defense.
Since Butler’s dressing-down, the Nittany Lion defense has had per-game averages of 10.8 points allowed (not counting kick returns for TDs), 1.2 touchdowns, 1.6 field goals, 306 total yards and an opponent third-down conversion rate of .257 (No. 1 in the country right now is Louisville, with .264).
Compare those with the averages of the half-dozen and one Minnesota half before that — discounting a shutout against cupcake Kent State, which lost seven of its first nine games. For those 5.5 games, the Lions’ defense allowed, on average, per game: 38.9 points, 4.7 touchdowns, 1.8 field goals, 494.5 total yards and an opponent third-down conversion rate of .474.
It’s helped that Adrian Amos has moved back to cornerback from safety, that Hull has started to heal from myriad injuries and that freshman Brandon Bell has emerged as the team’s No. 3 linebacker. That last one is especially key, since the Lions lost Ben Kline at linebacker with a torn pec suffered against the Gophers.
In addition, eight different Nittany Lion defenders made their first career start in 2013. They are: cornerback Jordan Lucas (11 starts), defensive tackle Kyle Baublitz (9), linebacker Nyeem Wartman (8), safety Ryan Keiser (4), safety Jesse Delle Valle (2), defensive tackle Austin Johnson (2), defensive end Anthony Zettel (2) and Kline (1).
“I think we’re just getting more comfortable with each other out there,” said Hull, the team’s No. 2 tackler, with 75, despite missing two games. “We had a lot of guys that were first time starters and younger guys. We also put it upon ourselves to play with more pride and get better and focus over single snap. So I think it’s really carried over to Saturdays.”
Senior linebacker Glenn Carson is the team’s top tackler, with 85. Unless he has a huge game against Wisconsin (his tops this year is 10 tackles, which he’s had four times), this will be the first season since 2001 that Penn State has not had a leading tackler with 100 or more stops. That last happened in 2001, when safety Shawn Mayer had 97 in 2001 (and rebounded with 144 in 2002).
NOT VERY OFFENSIVE
The onus is on Penn State’s defense, now more than ever. To begin with, Wisconsin is a whopping 24-point favorite — the biggest margin ever against the Nittany Lions, according to Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror. Moreover, in the past five games, Penn State is 2-3 and averaging just 22.6 points per game. Take away the 45-21 win over lowly Purdue, and they’ve scored just 68 points in four games – an average of only 17 points per contest.
“I think the defense played a good game,” Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said Saturday after his team fell 23-20 to Nebraska in overtime, to drop to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. “Obviously, offensively we did well in some spots, but in some spots we didn’t do as well. We didn’t hold up our end of the bargain. Defense played a good game, but you win as a team, you lose as a team.”
Besides Ohio State, Penn State’s game against Wisconsin (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten) in Madison (3:30 p.m. kickoff) will be the toughest challenge of the season for the PSU defense. Wisconsin’s offense averages 36.8 points and 489 yards per game – eerily similar to the numbers above, during Penn State’s blue period of defense. And the Badgers don’t let up. By quarter in 2013, they have scored 103, 107, 92 and 103 points.
CHEESE, THEY CAN RUN THE BALL
Wisconsin is led by the running backs Melvin Gordon (1,375 rushing yards) and James White (1,281), who average 33 carries, 241 yards and 2.3 touchdowns per game. Gordon has never lost a fumble, and the second of White’s two career fumbles came against Penn State in 2011. When they get into space, watch out. Combined they have 25 runs over 20 yards, including a 93-yarder by White and an 80-yarder by Gordon. (Combined, in 2013 Penn State’s backs have had three runs of 20 yards and seven that were longer.)
“This is a big challenge,” O’Brien said this week. “They run the football very well. They’re very well‑coached. They’re physical, they’re big. (First-year head coach) Gary Andersen has done a good job coming in there and putting his style of play and putting his mark on that program right away. Big challenge. These are two good running backs, guys that have each gained a lot of yards.”
The Badgers are effective passing the ball as well. Quarterback Joel Stave has completed 64% of his passes, with an efficiency rating of 141.63 (PSU’s Christian Hackenberg’s is 127.8.) Stave has thrown 17 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, with average per-game stats of 14.5 of 24.5 for 188.6 yards. His main target is former walk-on Jar Abbrederis, who has 61 catches for 916 yards and four touchdowns this season.
It’s the 12th and final game of the 2013 season for Penn State, which will next take the field on Aug. 30, 2014 against Central Florida at the Croke Park Classic in Dublin, Ireland.
For the Nittany Lion defense, there’s no time like today to get their Irish up one last time.
“We found ourselves kind of late,” said senior defensive tackle DaQuan Jones. “But we found ourselves.”
