Rudel

I’m going to say yes for several reasons.

I don’t want to overreact to two yawners against outmanned opposition, but that doesn’t mean a reaction isn’t warranted.

Penn State has outscored Nevada and Florida International by a combined 80-11 and allowed only one touchdown — vs. the backups — in the waning seconds vs. Nevada.

While the opener was encouraging, the Lions did not improve or address their most pressing concerns in their second game against FIU.

And that’s mainly on offense.

It’s difficult to assess games when 40-point outcomes are expected, and there’s no doubt the team will benefit from more crowd-fueled intensity in the most anticipated games.

Which these first three are clearly not.

But there has been enough cause for concern in two weeks to suggest the Nittany Lions may not be equal to their No. 2 ranking.

Their offensive line has not been overly dominant, to the point where State was beaten up front in several short-yardage situations vs. FIU.

Their receivers dropped five passes last week.

Despite his experience, quarterback Drew Allar hasn’t yet proven he can lead an explosive passing game, and he lacked accuracy and confidence — which he admitted — after the Lions only led FIU 13-0 late in the third quarter and 20-0 with 3:40 remaining.

That the Nits had to go for it on fourth down four times in the first half alone vs. FIU is hard to comprehend, but that was the case because they were only 3-of-12 on third down.

Then again, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki likes to be cute by lining up Allar at receiver to start the FIU game, not to mention his penchant for putting guard Vega Ioane in motion.

Keep in mind the teams that resort to trickeration are the ones that generally can’t line up and blow people off the ball.

Defensively, though they allowed Florida International only one trip into the red zone, the Lions had trouble getting off the field as FIU converted 3-of-4 fourth downs and dominated time of possession.

The PSU special teams have made miscues (kicking off out of bounds, blocked FG) that if duplicated against better competition could be costly.

Surely, the coaching staff has been holding a few things back, but it’s obvious the Lions will not run the table if they don’t get some things ironed out.

Too often, they’ve settled for field goals, and that won’t cut it against the Big Ten and national elite.

Add in this: The other heavyweights in the Big Ten, Oregon and Ohio State, have looked really good — maybe even better than expected — despite both breaking in new quarterbacks.

The Ducks haven’t missed a beat from last year’s conference championship team while the Buckeyes’ defense throttled No. 1 Texas and exposed Arch Manning in the process.

Penn State has the horses to play with those teams, as well as handle challenges from the likes of Iowa and Indiana, but in order to do so, the real Nittany Lions will need to show up.

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.