Penn State Football: 5 Stats to Know About Utah

Penn State is headed to the Rose Bowl to face Pac-12 Champion Utah, as the Nittany Lion program makes its fifth visit to Pasadena and looks for its second win ever in “The Granddaddy of Them All.” There will be plenty of things to learn about Utah over the next few weeks, but for now here are five stats to know off the bat.

No. 8 in Scoring Offense: The Utes head into the Rose Bowl boasting the No. 8 scoring offense in the nation averaging a whopping 40.0 points per game. This comes in a Pac-12 conference that often lacks in defensive intensity – seven Pac-12 teams average more than 30 points a game while just three teams in the Big Ten do. Nevertheless Penn State’s defense will have its hands full against a team that knows how to get the ball into the end zone.

No. 24 in Scoring Defense: In a conference not known for defense, Utah boasts the No. 24 ranked scoring defense in the country, for comparison there are six Big Ten teams with a higher mark than that but No. 24 is No. 24. The Utes have given up 33 touchdowns this season, eight more than Penn State has over the course of the year. Utah has lost three games this year and gave up an average of 30.33 points in each of those three games. The Utes haven’t given up more than 24 points in each of its last six games and has given up more than 30 points just twice all season. Utah is 1-1 in such games.

No. 10 in Rushing Offense: Utah has run the ball 517 times a mark that only bettered by 15 teams across the country. A 220 yards per game average is the 10th best in the nation. Penn State won’t mind taking on a team that wants to run the ball but if the Utes have the same success that Michigan did earlier in the year against the Nittany Lions it could be a long afternoon. Tavion Thomas leads the way with 687 yards on the year but three other players have over 400 yards rushing this season. Only two teams in the nation have more rushing touchdowns.

No. 8 in Sacks, No. 6 in Sacks Allowed: Utah gets to the quarterback and doesn’t give up many sacks, of course when you’re a team that leans on the rush as much as Utah does there aren’t always a ton of chances to get to the quarterback in the first place. Defensive end Daniel Grzesiak leads Utah with 6.5 sacks through 12 games, the same as Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter.

No. 13 in Red Zone Touchdown %: Penn State is ranked No. 7 in the nation in touchdown red zone conversions picking up a touchdown 75% of the time when the Nittany Lions are in the red area. Utah isn’t that far behind getting to the end zone 71.43% of the time which is 13th best in the nation. Utah’s mark of 50 touchdowns in the red zone is tied for second best in the nation behind Tennessee. The Utes have been in the red zone 70 times this year, only Georgia and USC have been in that area more.