Depth has been a recurring issue for the Penn State Nittany Lions football in each of James Franklin’s first two seasons at the helm. This year, in Saturday afternoon’s game, the Nittany Lions overcame losing four defensive starters to defeat Temple 34-27 at Beaver Stadium.
“At one point, we had seven starters out on defense,” Franklin said of his depleted defense. “I love how the defense handled it. It was next-man-up. Very proud of that.”
Next-man-up: Defense
The next-man-up mantra Penn State employs paid dividends for linebacker Brandon Smith. The redshirt junior helped aid a linebacking core that was riddled with injuries en route to eight tackles and a pass break up in his first action with the first team.
“I don’t think Brandon had any work with the first team at all this year,” Franklin said of the walk-on linebacker.
Injuries to defensive end Evan Schwan, linebackers Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell, as well as cornerback Grant Haley were all known prior to the game, however, throughout the game, injuries to safeties Malik Golden and Marcus Allen and linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White limited the Penn State defense.
Marcus Allen and Golden would later return to the game to finish with eight and nine tackles, respectively. Golden’s nine tackles were a team-high for the afternoon.
Cornerback John Reid helped seal the game for the Nittany Lions and their honorary coach, Josiah Viera, to whom Reid promised an interception. Viera, who is a staple in the State College sports scene, suffers from a rare genetic disorder but doesn’t let it impact his ability to provide help and cheer on State College teams when necessary.
Guest coach Josiah leading the locker room celebration! #TempleBeat pic.twitter.com/29KSup8Lhi
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) September 17, 2016
Next-man-up: Offense
While the defense was riddled with injuries, the offense had its fair share early in the game. Saquon Barkley left the game early in the first quarter after suffering what looked like an ankle injury before returning in the second half.
During the time Barkley was out, a combination of Miles Sanders, Andre Robinson and Mark Allen helped keep the Penn State rushing game going. The trio combined for 68 of the Nittany Lions’ 116 rushing yards, and Robinson found the endzone along the way for his first career touchdown — much to the delight of his roommate, Barkley.
“Saquon Barkley was probably more excited than anyone to see Andre succeed,” Franklin said of the friendship between the two running backs.
Sanders saw the most playing time of his three-game career Saturday and, aside from a fumble in the second quarter, looked good in the backfield for Penn State. The true freshman set up a first down with a key block in the first quarter and managed 27 yards rushing to go along with 31 yards in the return game.
Holding on to the football
The Penn State offense has looked solid for the most part under first-year offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead. McSorley, the Nittany Lions’ quarterback, has continued to torch opposing secondaries with his arm, throwing for 282 yards and a touchdown against Temple.
Where McSorley and the Penn State offense have yet to have success is in lowering turnovers. While the offense had two turnovers, McSorley and center Brian Gaia had three bad snaps, one where McSorley just straight dropped the snap, another that went over the quarterback’s head and another that went to McSorley’s right. All were recovered by McSorley, but the results could have been much, much worse against a better opponent.
McSorley completed 18 of his 24 passes and threw one interception at the hands of Temple’s defense. On an option route, McSorley threw a corner route when DaeSean Hamilton wound up running a post, putting the Owls deep in Penn State territory, which eventually lead to a Temple touchdown.
Temple scored touchdowns following both of the Penn State turnovers, the other coming on a Sanders fumble. The last two weeks, Penn State’s opponents have scored 14 points off turnovers. As Penn State heads into Big Ten play, its offense will need to limit the turnovers if it wants any chance of competing for the Big Ten Championship in December.
Up Next
Penn State travels to Michigan for the first of nine Big Ten conference games. The Wolverines were 2-0 leading up to their mid-afternoon match-up against Colorado on Saturday afternoon. Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan team won 28-16 in Happy Valley last year, however, much has changed since then for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions will need to rest up and heal for their Big Ten opener next weekend if they want to compete. The key to Penn State staying in the game and making it competitive will be coming out strong, much like they did against Temple.
Image credit: Abby Drey/Centre Daily
