Game Coverage

PSU point-counter: Rudel — Involve more receivers

What should the Lions focus on against Kent State?

Nittany Lions need to start

involving more receivers

By Neil Rudel

This is a scrimmage.

Maybe because in its last game, Penn State struggled with Bowling Green, Kent's fellow Mid-American Conference member, it will be mildly interesting to see if the Nittany Lions assert themselves quickly.

But since they're 49-point favorites, probably not.

The Golden Flashes are a MAC cellar-dweller, have lost 13 of their last 14 and have gotten worse over the past two years as they've been gutted by transfers.

They're 0-3 with a loss to Saint Francis -- kudos to Chris Villarrial and the job he's done in Loretto -- and followed that with a 71-0 defeat at Tennessee in which the Flashes trailed 65-0 at halftime.

So Saturday is a good day for Penn State to work on some things before entering Big Ten play against Illinois on Sept. 28.

One of those is diversifying its receiving corps.

Tyler Warren has established himself as one of the nation's top tight ends and leads the team in catches with 11 through two games. He obviously has good chemistry with Drew Allar.

Beyond that is a question mark the Lions will need to answer.

Trey Wallace looked good at West Virginia with five catches for 117 yards and two touchdowns, and it seemed clear that he'd be WR1 as they call it these days.

But then Wallace was blanked against Bowling Green, although he did catch a ball early that was wiped out by penalty.

Omari Evans appears to be WR2. He has four catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, but he also had a key drop early vs. the Falcons and had a TD wiped out via an offensive pass interference penalty that he didn't seem to need.

Beyond those two, the only other wide receiver with a catch is Julian Fleming, and he has just one for 3 yards that came late vs. Bowling Green. Fleming is the Ohio State transfer who was supposedly going to be a featured part of the offense, but so far it hasn't turned out that way.

Liam Clifford is another we were led to believe would be a key component of the receiving corps, and he has yet to catch a pass.

Part of the issue -- and James Franklin has addressed this -- is the lack of offensive plays. Through two games, no team in the country has taken fewer snaps (117) than Penn State.

Some of that is a more explosive offense under Andy Kotelnicki but another aspect is too many penalties (15) that have kept the Nits' defense on the field.

More chunk plays and a quick-score offense is predictable vs. Kent State, but Penn State would be wise to start involving some of the receivers it will need beyond Saturday.

Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.