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What Does New Penn State OC Mike Yurcich Bring to the Table? Everyone’s ‘Eating’

On Jan. 8, 2021, James Franklin announced that he was swapping his first-year offensive coordinator/quarterback Kirk Ciarrocca for Mike Yurcich.

Ciarrocca was fired just 54 weeks and a 4-5 record into his job. Kardashian marriages have lasted longer.

Now, three games into Yurcich’s tenure as Penn State’s fourth OC/QB coach in five seasons, the results of the move are pretty conclusive:

Penn State is 3-0, with two wins over ranked teams in its first three season-opening games for the first time ever.

Quarterback Sean Clifford is more efficient, more careful with the football, has rarely been sacked, is running less and winning more.

The Nittany Lion offense is more diverse, with a greater number of playmakers catching and running the ball.

Penn State’s O is also more versatile, often playing up-tempo, with Clifford going under center as well as the shotgun, featuring the introduction of such wrinkles as end-arounds, double passes and tight ends running the Wildcat.

And, in perhaps the biggest change of all, the Nittany Lion defense is playing better. Much better. Of course, that’s on defensive coordinator Brent Pry — and not Yurcich, who nonetheless is among the biggest beneficiaries.

“Our defense,” James Franklin has already said just three weeks into the 2021 season, “is a championship caliber defense.”

Defense is where Penn State has improved the most from its first three games of its pandemic-induced 0-3 mark to start the 2020 season vs. its 3-0 start to 2021.

To open the 2020 season against Indiana, No. 3 Ohio State and Maryland, the Nittany Lions averaged 26.3 points per game — and gave up a stunning 36.3 points per game.

To open the 2021 season against No. 12 Wisconsin, defending MAC champion Ball State and No. 22 Auburn, the Nittany Lions have averaged a field goal more (29.3 points). But the biggest tangible difference is on defense, where Pry’s fast and furious group has given up just 14.3 points per game. That’s an improvement of more than three TDs per game.

Franklin openly disdains such comparisons to 2020, given that the year was an anomaly in so many ways for Penn State, with the loss of running backs Journey Brown and Noah Cain, and the punishing effects of the pandemic.

“I would hope when you guys make comparisons, you’re making comparisons to the body of our work,” Franklin told the assembled media after his team WhiteOuted Auburn 28-20 on Saturday night. “And I think the body of our work’s been pretty good.”

True enough. From 2016-19, the Nittany Lions were 42-11, before dropping five consecutive games to open 2020 then rebounding with four straight wins.

But…

Franklin himself did make on a big judgment based on 2020 alone – and that was the performance of the offense under Ciarrocca. James didn’t like it, even though Ciarrocca was operating, in some ways, under the sword of Damocles. He responded by running Will Levis left and right…and up the middle…and ordering up fades with stunning regularity.

Less than three weeks after the 2020 season was over, Franklin axed Ciarrocca and brought in Yurcich. So, though Franklin correctly points out 2020 was an outlier for the Nittany Lions, he still held Ciarrocca accountable.

Let’s see where the Penn State offense has changed under Yurcich. First the overall statistics (which, offensively, are pretty equitable):

PENN STATE                2021                    2020 (first 3 games)

PSU record                   3-0                             0-3

Opp. (not vs. PSU)      4-1                             12-6

Points/game               29.33                           26.3

Opp. points/game      14.33                           36.3

Touchdowns                11                                 11

Run game/ave. rush  128/3.9                       129.3/3.4

First downs                  65                                77

3rd down                     14-36 (39%)              21-46 (46%)

4th down                      0-3                               3-7

Fumbles lost                0                                   2

Red zone scores         10-11                            8-13

Red zone TDs               7-11                             7-13

TE receptions/TD       9-169-2                       19-220-1

Receivers w/ catch      12                                 8

Runners w/ carry        10                                 6

Now, here are Clifford’s statistics.

You’ll see a much higher completion percentage. Fewer quarterback designed runs and frantic scrambles. A lot less sacks. Only one interception (essentially an arm punt vs. Auburn). He looks smarter, more patient, better protected.

SEAN CLIFFORD 2021 2020 (1st 3 games)

Att.-Comp. (%)           67-94 (71.3%)             69-122 (56.6%)

TD-Interception           5-1                                9-5

Yds. Game/Attempt   267.3/8.27                   286.3/7.0

Sacked                          3-34 yds.                      13-83 yds.

Run Att./Yds. (ave.)    22-95 (4.3)                  52-150 (2.9)    

“I thought Sean Clifford managed the game really well,” Franklin said on Saturday night, repeating it a second time, a bit later: “I thought he managed the game really well. He’s taken some criticism, so I’m super happy for him. Tough-minded guy, he’s physically tough. He made the plays that he should have made today. But I also thought he made a couple plays — the play that he extended and threw it in the back of the end zone. I thought that was big time play.”

Wide receiver Jahan Dotson, who has 20 catches for 245 yards and three TDs in three games in 2021, has noticed a new and improved Cliff in one big way. Clifford is “just comfortable,” Dotson said. “He is more comfortable.”

Tight end Brenton Strange, who had four receptions for 71 yards and a TD against Auburn, says Clifford is both different and the same: “I think maybe his level of attention and leadership have definitely grown,” Strange said Saturday night. “Sean’s the same person he was last year or the year before.”

THERE’S MORE

Here is what has also changed under Yurcich: The speed at which the Nittany Lions play and the way that the new offensive play-caller distributes the football.

What is the biggest difference under Yurcich, I asked Dotson. He answered without hesitation:

“Tempo. That’s been the biggest thing,” said Dotson, who had 10 catches for 78 yards and a TD against Auburn, and also completed a 22-yard pass. “The way we use tempo throws teams off-balance. That’s a great weapon for us. Coach Yurcich — I said at the beginning of the season — he’s a mastermind. I actually believe that. He has an answer for every single thing that a defense throws at us. It’s great to have a guy like that in our pocket.”

Under Yurcich, 12 different Nittany Lions have caught a pass in the first three games. And 10 different players have carried the ball. Ciarrocca operated with a much smaller deck; through the initial three games of 2020 there were eight different receivers and just six rushers (counting Cain, who had only three carries before being lost for the season).

Thus far, Yurcich has had a buffet of options.

“We have a lot playmakers,” said Strange. “We’ve been showing that the past few weeks. Versatility. We can do a lot more things. (Yurcich) can get the ball in everyone’s hands if he wants to.

“Our offense is fun, because you can get the ball into anybody’s hands. I think that’s really important, spreading the ball around and getting the ball in your playmakers’ hands. If someone makes a play, it’s going to open it up for someone else. Han’s eating, Parker (Washington)’s eating, the tight ends are eating, the running backs are.”

NO RUSH TO JUDGMENT

Franklin likes what he sees in his new hire. But he wants more. Justifiably so.

Penn State ran for a paltry 50 yards against a robust Wisconsin defense, averaging only 2.8 yards per carry. They did pound Ball State for 240 yards on the ground, but against another big boy in Auburn, the Nittany Lions averaged just 2.8 yards again, gaining 94 yards on 33 carries.

Franklin has noticed.

“I think we can be a little bit more efficient in the running game,” he said Saturday night. “I think we can improve there. We protected well. I don’t want that to be a one-week on, one-week off. I think we have a really talented tight end group. We want to keep them involved. It’s really difficult (on opponents) when you have receivers making plays, you have tight ends making plays, you’re able to run the ball. We’ve got that type of balance. …we want to be diverse. We want to keep people on their heels.”

Cain, who has a rather pedestrian per-carry average of 3.4 yards on 47 rushes in 2021, said he thinks – cue Sinatra — the best is yet to come.

“We have so many weapons we can utilize on our offense and I think you’re going to see more as the season goes along,” Cain said.

“We’re battle-tested early. We’re not playing any slouch teams. We’re playing Top 20 teams early and that’s going to help us as the season goes along when we play on the road and face some adversity.”