Penn State football improved to 4-0 on the season with its latest win Saturday featuring an explosive play bonanza offensively and yet another stout effort on the defensive side of the ball.
But for as steadily as the Nittany Lions dispatched the visiting Wildcats, 38-17, the final score being closer than the game ever felt, the program continued to show some signs of lingering trouble spots.
What are they and how can they be resolved?
BWI analyst Thomas Frank Carr has answers in his latest "Film Study."
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Without further ado, here's this week's Film Study.
Penn State closed out its nonconference schedule with a 38-17 win over Villanova on Saturday. While Villanova didn’t go down without a fight, they were not quite up to the task of containing Penn State’s skill players or breaking through a relentless Penn State defense that held the Wildcats to 106 total yards through three quarters.
As with any game, there were still some hiccups and wrinkles that we’ll need to delve into when it comes to the Penn State offense. We’ll spend most of our time there in today’s film session.
WILD Cats
If I may be so bold, the Villanova Wildcats came out with a ballsy plan to stop Penn State’s high-powered offense. There’s no better way to describe it.
So far this season there have been two defensive themes for how to stop quarterback Sean Clifford and the Penn State offense. Unlike Ball State and Auburn, who wanted to play ball control and bore us all to death with four-high coverage shells, the Wildcats came at the Nittany Lions with a variety of coverage schemes and blitz packages to try and force the issue. In other words, they went the Wisconsin route.
While it was bold and brave, it had roughly the same results.
On the first play of the game, Villanova gambled by sending five rushers at the quarterback and stunting on the right side. This is a familiar theme for Penn State fans who saw both Ball State and Wisconsin frustrate the Nittany Lion passing attack in this way. Unfortunately for Mark Ferrante’s squad, Penn State learned from their past mistakes and were able to handle the pressure, resulting in one of the most dangerous deep receivers in the Big Ten in single coverage against an FCS corner.
This was the story of the game. Whenever Villanova gambled and brought pressure, Clifford was able to either find an open receiver in rhythm or extend the play and allow his teammates to work open on a scramble drill. Clifford was 5-5 for 122 yards and two touchdowns vs the blitz on Saturday with only one sack according to PFF.
