Lions now 4-0 but fall short of ‘standard’
Penn State football commentary
Trending
UNIVERSITY PARK -- James Franklin has a statistical priority list that he recites to the media after each game.
They include which team wins the explosive plays, the penalty and turnover battles, drive-start position and now the middle eight minutes (last four of the second quarter and first four of the third.)
Penn State went 5-for-5 in those areas on Saturday but still settled for a less-than-dominating 33-14 victory over Central Michigan before 106,642 at Beaver Stadium.
Even Franklin acknowledged, "I wouldn't necessarily say it felt like this, but we won all of them."
For the second time in two games against Mid-American competition, the Lions went through a first-half malaise.
After scoring on their first two possessions and taking a 14-0 lead, State went through a second-quarter drought before transfer punter Barney Amor continued his excellent first-season work by planting one at the CMU 3 and three punts inside the 10.
On a day when Penn State honored its 1982 national championship team with some of the great kicking specialists in school history present -- Ralph Giacomarro, Nick Gancitano, Massimo Manca and a family member of the late John Bruno -- Amor's work was fitting.
Amor says the first thing he practices in his daily routine is backspin.
"My job is to put the ball inside the 10," he said. "So if that ball lands anywhere inside the 10, that's me just doing my job."
The Lions used the field-position swing to force a punt and, following Parker Washington's 14-yard return to the Chippewas' 34, freshman Kaytron Allen's 14-yard touchdown with 1:58 remaining before halftime put PSU up for keeps.
In addition to Amor's punting, the Lions recovered Central Michigan's muffed punt early in the third quarter and cashed that into another score.
But before and beyond that, the kicking game struggled, the offense didn't sustain drives, and the defense was on the field too long.
Jake Pinegar had an extra point blocked in the third quarter and missed a 38-yard field goal in the fourth.
Franklin said personnel changes had previously been made to shore up protection, following a missed extra point vs. Ohio, "but it reared its ugly head" again.
He didn't have quite the reservations about his offense and defense Saturday, but he wasn't thrilled with either.
He said the offense "still needs to run the ball consistently" and felt the passing game didn't take advantage of Central Michigan's aggressive defense designed to stop the run.
He also said the Lions need to mix in the screen game and move the pocket more often.
"They had a great plan," he said. "(But) when people play cover zero, you should be excited on offense and create huge, explosive plays. We didn't do that today, and that made it harder than it needed to be."
Defensively, though the Lions only allowed the two second-quarter scores, they did yield 275 passing yards, which helped Central Michigan sustain possessions.
"We have to be better on third-and-long," Franklin said.
Not to mention Central Michigan had two passing touchdowns called back.
It wasn't gloom-and-doom in the Lions' locker room, nor was anyone euphoric.
The Lions are 4-0 and have avoided the kind of upset that is becoming commonplace around the country. But they know Saturday's performance won't be good enough to run an October table of Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State following Northwestern this week.
Sean Clifford agreed, saying, "We're happy we won, but we didn't meet our standard today."
Franklin wasn't sure "whether it was our focus or our scheme" but felt the Lions were adequately prepared.
"We had a good week of practice," he said.
Veteran defensive tackle P.J. Mustipher wasn't as sure.
"I was definitely more intense this week because I knew," he said. "Being here so long, I know what's coming before it happens. I was trying to get the guys riled up before the game. We have to come out much better than we did."
Especially if they plan to make next month an Oktoberfest.
Rudel can be reached at 814-946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.