Column: Repeated offensive failings dictate program's unsavory season

Though slightly delayed, the issue was happening again.

On a third-and-1 pitch play from quarterback Will Levis to running back Keyvone Lee in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions couldn’t avoid their perpetual demon this season. The toss delivered behind Lee, the ball fell to the turf and, after a scramble, was gobbled up by Hawkeyes’ defensive lineman Zach VanValkenburg at the Nittany Lions’ 41-yard line.

Eight plays and 3 minutes, 24-seconds later, the Hawkeyes’ Mekhi Sargent dashed in the north end zone, transforming a 10-7 game into a 10-point deficit from which the Nittany Lions never recovered.

“You can't turn the ball over, and that's been the story of the season, turnovers,” head coach James Franklin acknowledged after the 41-21 loss, the Lions’ fifth in as many games. “You can't turn the ball over and when you have opportunities to get turnovers, you got to get them. That is the story of the game. That is the story of the season.”

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While the Nittany Lions’ inability to create turnovers defensively has no doubt been problematic to the program’s success, it pales in comparison to the conundrum created by Penn State’s offensive turnovers on an almost every game basis this season.

Committing another four turnovers Saturday against the Hawkeyes, Levis fumbling twice before Sean Clifford entered the game at quarterback in the third quarter, only for him to be intercepted twice following two touchdowns on his first two throws. The miscues increased Penn State’s turnover totals this season to 13, including five lost fumbles and eight Clifford interceptions in less than 16 full quarters of action.

It’s a turnover rate among the worst in the nation on a per-game basis and, within a Nittany Lion program reeling from its frequency, represents a trend without a fix at present.

“It is extremely frustrating just because we know that turnovers swing the game. If you're on defense and you get a turnover, you know that's huge. You're putting the offense in a great position,” wideout Jahan Dotson said afterward. “When you turn the ball over, we know we're putting our defense in a terrible position. It's about field position and then keeping our defense on the field for too long. We just gotta maintain the ball, secure the ball. Coach Ciarrocca preaches the ball is the program. We just gotta take care of the ball and sustain drives.”

For a defensive unit that already has shown its youth and shortcomings at times this season, the setbacks have been especially damaging.

Saddled with suboptimal field position repeatedly this season, thanks in large part to those turnovers, the Nittany Lions’ approach to “sudden change” defense has to this point been unsuccessful.

“You have a mindset to get a stop or a turnover. Three and out or turnover. Especially if we get it on our side, keep them to a field goal. Just play with the mentality that they're not getting anything,” corner Keaton Ellis said. “We work that really hard in practice, sudden change. Quick momentum changes, trying to switch that momentum back on our side. And that's the biggest thing is to stop the momentum and get it back on our side.”

The issue for the Nittany Lions has not been limited to turnovers in the conventional sense, though.

Along with two fumbles and two fourth-quarter interceptions which lead to three Iowa touchdowns and a field goal, the Nittany Lions were also hurt once again by a failed fourth-down attempt. Now able to convert just 7 of 15 fourth-down conversion attempts this season, a philosophy Franklin stressed was to inject some confidence and momentum into the offense, the repeated failures have also been damaging at times, swinging field position at best or, twice now, directly leading to opponent touchdowns.

Combining the numbers, in 180 points scored on the Nittany Lions this season, Penn State has gifted 28 points on pick- or fumble-six plays, has allowed another 23 points on possessions immediately following turnovers, has allowed 14 points off turnovers on downs, and has another 10 points surrendered on possessions started on its side of the field. That’s a remarkable 41.6 percent of points scored on Penn State this season under those all-too-frequent circumstances.

Still, safety Jaquan Brisker said Saturday that the onus is on the Lions’ defense to rectify the situation.

“We just gotta execute more,” Brisker said. “Some sudden changes are great, some are not. But honestly, you just gonna come out there with your heads down and just play defense, just stop the offense from scoring.”

More likely, of course, is that the Nittany Lions’ issues this season on both sides of the ball would be best rectified by dramatically reducing the turnovers it commits offensively and the fourth downs it attempts with fleeting success.

A 10-point game at the time of Penn State’s second failed fourth-down attempt late in the first half, a revised timeline without the Hawkeyes’ subsequent score would have found the Nittany Lions facing a mere 3-point deficit upon Clifford’s 68-yard touchdown completion to Dotson late in the third quarter.

Whether or not the game’s outcome, or those of any game prior, would be changed without turnovers or failed fourth-down attempts is purely hypothetical at this point. But for a defense that has struggled to hang on in the face of sudden change, the elimination of those 75 points from the scoreboard shifts Penn State’s defensive scoring average from 36.0 points per game down to 21.0.

Even in just eliminating the direct turnover touchdowns, four in all this season, swings that average down to 30.4 points per game.

Until those issues are rectified, though, the Nittany Lion defense will have little choice but to continue searching for the right formula to overcome its handicaps.

“I think we've done pretty well in some moments and some drives. There's always room to improve. There's always room to get better,” Ellis said. “It's all mindset. Sudden change is a mindset. We got to go out there and get a stop.”

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