PSU fails to rattle Trojan QB
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- USC quarterback Jayden Maiava torched the Penn State defense on Saturday night for 301 passing yards as the Nittany Lions fell to the Trojans, 31-23, in the annual White Out game.
The Nits' pass rush, which has been a thorn in their side all season, never got much going again. PSU has just eight sacks this season, and half of them are from linebacker Tony Rojas.
Rojas got home on USC's first drive of the game, and that was it.
The Lions spent most of the night only rushing three and dropping more into coverage to possibly mitigate the Trojans' explosive passing attack.
"I think we tried to have some multiplicity in terms of what we were doing," PSU coach Matt Campbell said. "How many different ways can we disguise coverage? Especially post-snap, especially when there were under 15 seconds on the (play) clock.
"When you talk about the pressure, we'll have to continue to find ways to get creative, especially those third-down situations. They had time to make the plays and to extend the plays. We have to find a way to get off the field on third down."
USC was 5-for-11 on third down, including twice converting on third-and-10 or longer. Campbell said those situations were the biggest killers.
"You bust your tail to get to that point, and you're not able to finish it," Campbell said.
Give a lot of credit to Maiava, who will likely be a top-10 quarterback in next year's draft class. The UNLV transfer made a living out of buying time and extending plays.
"He's a super-talented passer," PSU edge rusher Caleb Bacon said. "He got out of the pocket today and made some incredible throws. We knew coming in he had the capability to do that."
Penn State now is staring at .500 (3-3 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) at the halfway point of the season. It's a season that is becoming glaringly similar to last year when PSU opened up 3-0 before losing the next six games.
"It's very frustrating, but we just have to come together as a defense and as a team, and just play together," defensive end Yvan Kemajou said.
"A lot of the guys on this team went through similar things last season," Bacon said. "We have those scars. Those scars can help us going through this rough patch now."