Credit.
Time to give Penn State’s defense its due.
Although that’s not always easy, with a money player like Saquon Barkley around.
But do this:
Pry your eyes away from Saquon’s 358 all-purpose yards and Penn State’s dazzling walk-off drive to defeat Iowa 21-19 on Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
Instead, focus on the job the Nittany Lions’ defense did against the Hawkeyes.
The D kept PSU in the game.
Especially while the Penn State offense struggled to find the end zone, despite running an epic 99 plays for 579 yards. Against the Hawkeyes, JoeMo’s offense had five drives of 10 plays or Moor(head).
But on the first four, they came away with a cumulative three points, no thanks to a punt, two missed field goals and one made field goal. The fifth? It was the game-winner.
If not for the defense, especially through the third quarter, the outcome would have been different for the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions, now 4-0 this season and 13-1 since getting blown out 49-10 at Michigan on Sept. 24, 2016. In that game, the fourth of the season for Penn State, the Wolverines jumped to a 28-0 halftime lead after scoring touchdowns on four of their first five drives.
What a difference a year makes. On Saturday night, Iowa’s first 11 possessions went like this:
Seven punts, one missed field goal, one lost fumble (recovered by Grant Haley), one safety (by Shareef Miller, wearing No. 19 in honor of fellow DE Torrence Brown, out for the season with an injury) and one TD (of 21 yards, on a short field following an Iowa interception). In all, Iowa’s offense had a net 5 points through the game’s first 50 minutes.
‘I thought our defense played unbelievably well,’ said Penn State head coach James Franklin, ‘and probably hasn’t got enough credit this year for as well as they’re playing.’
NATIONAL RANKINGS
If that’s the case, let’s take a quick at the Nittany Lions’ FICO score:
Under the direction of coordinator Brent Pry, it’s a defense that as of Sunday ranks No. 2 in college football in fewest points allowed — 33 in four games. (Minnesota is No. 1, with 32.) Penn State is No. 1 in the nation in tackles for a loss (41) and tied for No. 1 with Virginia in red zone defense (1 TD, 2 FGs in 6 trips). The Nittany Lions are also No. 7 in turnovers gained (10), 10th in interceptions (6) and 15th in fumble recoveries (4). By comparison, Penn State had 13 turnovers gained — 10 picks, three fumble recoveries — in 14 games last season.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz offered a positive credit report as well: ‘Looking at them in person, they’re playing at a high level. They’ve got big, strong athletes. They’re very talented, and they play hard, and they’re very well-coached.’
The Nittany Lions did give up back-to-back touchdowns late against Iowa; one came on a big 70-yard burst by Akrum Wadley and the other was aided by a few chunk plays. The point is, though, that Pry’s Guys held on long and consistently enough for the Nittany Lion offense to finally figure out how to find the end zone.
The Nittany Lions are just one of two teams in the FBS that has not given up a point in the first quarter in 2017. Their performance out of the box — shutouts against lesser foes Akron and Georgia State and just 14 points scored by Pitt — is the second-best start since Penn State joined the Big Ten 25 years ago.
WORST TO ALMOST FIRST
Since 1993, only one PSU team has yielded fewer points in their opening four games. That would be the 1996 squad, which opened the season with identical 24-7 wins over USC and Louisville and shutouts against Northern Illinois and Temple. Overall, since Joe Paterno’s first year as head coach in 1966, only five Penn State defenses have been stingier in their opening quartet of games than the 2017 team. Following the 1996 group, which finished 11-2 and was led by Kim Herring and Brandon Noble, are: 1973, 23 points allowed; both 1971 and 1981, 31 points allowed; and 1989, 32 points allowed.
In terms of giving up points, Penn State’s defense has gone from literally worst to almost first.
The 2016 Nittany Lions — beset by injuries to starting linebackers Nyeem Wartman White, Brandon Bell and Jason Cabinda — gave up 131 points in the first four games to open the season: 13 to Kent State, 42 at Pitt, 27 to Temple and 49 to Michigan. It was the most points allowed by a Penn State defense over the first four games in the Big Ten era and the second-most in Penn State history. The 1889 team lost all four of its games, allowing 138 points in total — including a 106-0 loss at Lehigh.
For many reasons, the Penn State defense is different this season: it’s healthier, deeper, more experienced and more opportunistic.
And better. Much.
ALLEN AND CABINDA
Take Cabinda and safety Marcus Allen, as examples. In his 37th career start on Saturday night, Allen did a little — and a lot — of everything. He had five tackles, one sack, two tackles for a loss and forced a fumble.
‘This season we found our mojo,’ Allen said. ‘We have a little swagger to us. We’re playing with a lot of confidence. The turnovers aren’t anything but playing with energy and passion. Just playing to the best of our ability. We’ve been focusing on getting turnovers day-in and day-out. We made an emphasis on that over the off-season.
‘We have the confidence comes from playing against this offense. It’s one of the best there is. It’s a matter of us doing well against them and them doing well against us. We’re no pushovers. We’re a good defense. They may get ahead of us in practice sometimes, but we get some and they get some. It’s just iron sharpening iron.’
In 2016, Cabinda missed five games — including Pitt and Michigan — with a hand injury. On Saturday in his 27th career start, the senior led the Nittany Lions with six tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Hand it to Cabinda: For him, and led by him, the Penn State defense has emerged from the shadows. Its play against Pitt and Iowa kept Penn State in the game, and leading, while the offense was sorting things out.
‘A couple of times we picked them up, when Trace had that fumble and we didn’t get those field goals,’ Cabinda said. ‘Our defense came out there with the crowd going wild, crazy, they have momentum — all that kind of stuff. Our defense walks on the field unfazed, completely unfazed, because we know we’re going to go out there and stop them.’
For Cabinda, it is a matter of that confidence now manifesting itself. And doing so every time out. Through four games, Penn State’s opponents have had a total of 54 offensive possessions. They have scored on just six of them.
‘It’s just our mindset and the confidence we have in ourselves,’ he said. ‘We feel that in that situation they are not going to score on us. It’s as simple as that. Doing it in practice, over and over again. That’s where it comes from.
‘We just know that’s the kind of players we have — with a lot of trust in each other and our abilities.’
