Penn State needs its 40-point offense back if it wants to catch Ohio State in Big Ten

Is there a Big Ten team equipped to match Ohio State’s 40-point offense in 2021?

The Buckeyes have led the conference in scoring by eclipsing that mark in each of their last four Big Ten championship seasons. In that four-year stretch, only one other school has averaged more than 40 points in a single season. 

Penn State is hoping to get back there this season with its third different coordinator since Joe Moorhead departed after the 2017 season. 

“I guess going back to Joe Moorhead, yeah, I think it’s similar to that,” Penn State coach James Franklin said at Penn State media day on Aug. 7. “I think if you look, even when we first got here (from) Vanderbilt, we had a lot of spread concepts. Then we kind of took it to a whole other level with Joe. You know, we’re back to that. That’s really kind of who we wanted to be the entire time that we’ve been here.” 

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Moorhead was the OC for the Nittany Lions during the 2016 Big Ten championship season and the following year in 2017, a run that included Trace McSorley, Saquon Barkley and an offense that truly could threaten the Buckeyes on the field. In 2017, Penn State matched the Buckeyes at 41.1 points per game. 

Penn State vs. Ohio State offense since 2017

Since then, Penn State has shuffled through Ricky Rahne (2018-19) and co-offensive coordinators Kirk Ciarrocca and Tyler Bowen (2020) looking to rekindle that 40-point offense. Now, that challenge falls on Mike Yurcich, who was Ohio State’s passing game coordinator under Ryan Day in 2019.

Franklin insists Penn State is running the same offense. So, what changes now?

“It’s the presentation,” he said. “Whether it is huddling, whether it’s going no huddle. Whether it’s lining up in multiple personnel sets, whether it’s multiple sets. Whether it’s empty, whatever it may be, it’s the packaging of how you put it all together. And that’s been fun.”

The Nittany Lions return three-year starter Sean Clifford at quarterback, and SN Preseason All-American receiver Jahan Dotson is teamed with Parker Washington on the perimeter. Can Yurich bring back that any-time deep-threat element to the Penn State offense?

“It’s interesting, anything in football is relative really,” Yurcich said on Aug. 7. “Success with the deep ball, if you’re able to throw it vertically, then that means that you’ve got the defense to respect your run game. So, I think that’s a very important aspect of that, not to be overlooked.”

“You want to be able to run the ball when everybody in the stadium knows you have to run the ball and need to be able to run the ball,” Franklin added. “Whether that is in the red  zone, whether that is short yardage. When that is the four-minute offense, we want to make sure that we can kind of serve all those different masters.”

The Nittany Lions have a committee at running back that includes Noah Cain, Keyvone Lee, Devyn Ford and Baylor transfer John Lovett along with an experienced offensive line led by tackle Rasheed Walker. That group needs to be better. 

This is the cast Franklin and Yurcich are molding to get back into the mix with the Buckeyes. Penn State lost one-point heart-breakers to Ohio State in 2017 and 2018, but the Buckeyes have won the last two meetings by double digits. Not coincidentally, Penn State’s offensive production has sagged the last two seasons. 

“That’s been fun getting with Mike and learning with Mike,” Franklin said.  “Obviously, we have similar backgrounds. We’re guys that both played in the PSAC, guys that both coached in the PSAC. His career jumped a little bit more significantly, right? He went from Shippensburg to Oklahoma State.”

This marks a pivotal year for Penn State. A pandemic pardon could be issued for last year’s 0-5 start, which the Nittany Lions dressed up with four straight victories to end the season.

The offense will have to be clicking early, too. Penn State opens at No. 12 Wisconsin before a home matchup with Auburn two weeks later. Ranked matchups against No. 17 Indiana and No. 18 Iowa precede the Oct. 30 trip to No. 4 Ohio State.

So, can the Nittany Lions get back to the Joe Moorhead standard that fast?

“The 2016 offense was great, but it took a few weeks for that to happen. So, what’s your realistic expectation for what this offense could be early vs.middle and late in the season?” Franklin said. “Well, you know, to your point there, based on our schedule, it better be early, right? I think everybody’s aware of that.”

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