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Upon further review: Examining Penn State’s 55-16 loss to Michigan State

By Audrey Snyder/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8 years ago

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Where would Penn State’s offense be without freshman running back Saquon Barkley? 

Barkley has been the silver lining to an otherwise disappointing season for a Penn State team that Saturday night looked fundamentally flawed and lost at several points and just doesn’t have the talent to keep pace with the mighty Michigan State Spartans. It’s by no means an easy task to slow down Connor Cook and this well-rounded team that’s one of the nation’s best, but Barkley, who rushed for 103 yards on 17 carries, setting a PSU freshman record with 1,007 yards this season, proved yet again he’s a special talent. 

On a field where the talent gap and the level of execution from one sideline to the other proved to be drastic, Barkley and sophomore receiver Chris Godwin — who caught 11 passes for 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns — were as steady as they’ve been all season. 

When there was a 4th-down conversion on the table Godwin stepped up to move the chains. When the Lions struggled to find the end zone right away riding Barkley into the red zone and a slant falling incomplete to Godwin, Christian Hackenberg went back to his top target on third down for the score. 

“I can’t really be happy about my performance because my biggest goal is for us to win as a team and if we don’t win it just kind of takes away from what happens,” said Godwin who has 63 catches for 968 yards this season. “I’m confident we can fix things so we come away from our next game with a victory.”

Barkley, who hasn’t been made available to the media this season per James Franklin’s media policy where freshmen and transfer players are off limits, has acclimated well to the spotlight, teammates said. Much like Hackenberg did three years ago as a bright-eyed freshman, Barkley’s breakout season shows promise for the future. While the Lions’ future will be a focal point during bowl prep Penn State has two young cornerstones to build with. 

“I thought he was obviously very talented and he burst on the scene and he made a lot of really good plays,” Hackenberg said of Barkley. “Talent is something you really can’t coach and he has a lot of it and I think you look at his work ethic and that’s something that goes into it. You don’t just rush for 1,000 yards just on straight talent. He’s put in a lot of work and there’s a lot of people that go into that. … It’s awesome for him. … He’s earned everyone’s respect in the locker room at a young age and that’s special.”

Franklin said he did not leave Barkley in at the end of the game because the record was within reach, rather he wanted many of the offense’s young players to take reps with backup quarterback Trace McSorley who entered the game with under 10 minutes left and the score out of reach.

Tracking the tackling 

It’s time for the weekly why is the tackling still problematic and what can be done to fix it part of the notebook. It was magnified the last month during the Lions’ losses to ranked opponents and while injuries and depth can account for part of it it doesn’t tell the whole story. 

Penn State opted to scale back the contact in practice earlier this season while waiting to make it to their late-season bye week. After the bye parts of the practice schedule remained the same with limited contact while the Lions stressed getting in an athletic position as if they were making a tackling, but not driving their teammate to the ground.  

“Everyone has their nicks and knacks, but everyone not getting their full contact in in practice really makes a difference I think,” said cornerback Grant Haley. 

Franklin said earlier this week the team was as banged up as it’s been all year. However, every team in late November has issues to overcome so while Penn State might be reeling late in the season the breakdowns in fundamentals weren’t fixed.  

The case for Carl

Penn State’s defense shifted tackle Anthony Zettel back to his 2013 position as a defensive end and plugged senior Tarow Barney in at defensive tackle alongside Austin Johnson. Defensive end Torrence Brown checked in after Carl Nassib was taken out of the game after two plays while dealing with what the television broadcast said was a hamstring injury.  

Nassib played two plays against Michigan and just two against Michigan State. Defensive end Garrett Sickels didn’t make the trip due to an undisclosed injury and without both starting ends the Lions failed to register a sack or a tackle for loss. 

“Not having Nassib and Sickels in there had an impact on us in third down, had an impact on us on first and second down,” Franklin said. “Good players.” 

Flag fest

Penn State’s offense was penalized six times and offensive lineman Andrew Nelson, who played left and right tackle Saturday, accounted for three of the penalties. The Lions’ starting offensive line — with Nelson at left tackle, Derek Dowrey at left guard, Angelo Mangiro at center, Brian Gaia at right guard and Brendan Mahon at right tackle— was the same combination it used earlier this season against Buffalo. 

The Lions put Paris Palmer in at left tackle in the second half and moved Nelson back to right tackle. The Lions also used Palmer in their jumbo package in the first half, much like they did last week against Michigan too. Still, in the regular season the finale the Lions hadn’t found their best group of five. Hackenberg was sacked twice and the Lions surrendered 39 sacks this season, just five away from tying the school record that was set a year ago.

“Jumping offsides, there was a couple times where they did a good job with their environment in the stadium with the fans where we jumped offsides and now you’re in a first and 15 situation or a 2nd and 15 situation against a good football team so it makes it difficult to stay on schedule, create manageable third-down situations,” Franklin said.

What happens next?

Penn State did mid-season evaluations and James Franklin said the Lions will do staff evaluations again before the bowl game and then after the bowl game as well.  

“We’re evaluating every single day, but the evaluation will happen in between now and the bowl and then again after the bowl when the season is over,” he said.

Franklin also said he will meet with several players in the coming weeks to hash out a plan about their futures. While it would seem likely that standout juniors Austin Johnson and Christian Hackenberg would be at the top of that list, Hackenberg shrugged off questions about his future after the game and said he’s focused on bowl prep, calling it a mini version of spring practice. The Lions will learn their bowl destination next Sunday evening.

“We will have some conversations with a number of guys and come up with a plan that makes sense for them and makes sense for Penn State,” Franklin said. “Look forward to doing that here in the next couple weeks.”

Audrey Snyder: asnyder@post-gazette.com and Twitter @audsnyder4.