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This has become an an endless cycle and yet perplexing one, too. They lost another game they were good enough to win, should have. They tried and failed on one fourth down and then another and somehow never leaned on their pass game until it was too late. Onto Saturday with Michigan State begging the Lions to run the ball. That leads to curiously failing play calling that affects every season now, such as fourth down against Ohio State in 2018 and near the goal line at Minnesota the following year and early against Michigan this season (a fake field goal with one kicker throwing to another). It causes the PSU brain trust to always account for it. Just never good enough when needed to win the biggest games. It's not that these offensive lines have remained bad, certainly not in the kind of 10-sack bad against Temple in 2015.

The offense and Joe Moorhead magically worked around the issue in 2016-17 with Saquon Barkley and Chris Godwin and Mike Gesicki and one big play after another.īut, honestly, they've beaten their heads against the wall ever since. From losing five-straight to start last year to losing five of seven to end this one. It's become what people remember the most: From not being able to get a first down in the Rose Bowl, to not protecting leads against Ohio State the following two seasons. It's made it intrinsically difficult to gather momentum in second halves and to keep it. It's disabled his team from closing out games against tough opponents.

But we're in Season Eight now, and his team is still getting manhandled up front with significant impacts everywhere else.īad offensive line plays have gotten his quarterbacks hobbled, from Christian Hackenberg to Trace McSorley to Sean Clifford. This kind of thing was understandable early in Franklin's tenure, when he had little to work with. It played out strikingly similar to those unnecessary defeats at Iowa and to Illinois and Michigan. Still, the Lions tried when the footing got slick, and Michigan State backed their defenders off the ball - and they failed. Secondly, they knew Penn State couldn't block and run the ball to save themselves. They were giving up more than 400 passing yards per game over the past month. For one, they had no other bait to offer. The offensive line protects your quarterback, escorts your top runners and controls the flow of the day (keeps your defense rested and in good position).Ĭonsider that overwhelmed Michigan State all but dared the Lions to the run the ball in the snow. Its struggles alter play calling, game planning and momentum. It's a basic foundational point, its results bleeding into every other unit on the field. More than anything, offensive line play affects the tenor of the entire game. That's because the offensive line gives it no room to maneuver. This is, after all, a really good Penn State pass team going against the worst pass defense in college football.īut, once again, the Lions failed to adjust to poor conditions, to a situation not lined up as advertised. On a dry track, his Lions probably use their overwhelming advantages to win comfortably enough. This excruciating defeat to the Spartans is just the latest example. When he's alternately boasted college football's best runners and pass-catchers and tight ends, best linebackers, pass-rushers and defensive backs. When his players perform well for NFL scouts in front of big pay days. That, in a sense, is perplexing when it appears that he works so relentlessly and is successful at most everything else.

Michigan State: How Lions found ways to lose close, yet again He's never had a really good offensive line.įailing again at Michigan State: Postgame updates: Penn State loses close again, key questions before bowl game It just seems to loom even larger against Michigan State, whether in the rain (2017), the sun (2018) or the snow (Saturday). It really comes back to this: Franklin has an offensive line problem, always has. To winning when the game is there to be taken. His Nittany Lions have proven to be poor at adjusting to circumstances when needed, to overcoming when things get rough. He must know what's at the root of being the guy with a new 10-year deal who seems to lose most of the games people increasingly remember. He's getting paid too much money, has recruited too well, has coached too many close games not to know. Graham Couch and Chris Solari, Lansing State JournalĬertainly, James Franklin knows what needs to be fixed.