10 Questions with Victory Bell Rings about Penn State Football

Penn State was incredible at 2nd half rallies.  What was the secret?

I don’t know if it was much of a secret but really the offense just attacked downfield so well that defenses couldn’t keep up in the second half.  By the time defenses responded on the back end or vice versa, Saquon Barkley would gash defenses in the run game.

Badger of Honor Reaction:

Agree with the answer.  But I don’t know Penn State well enough to know if the team was solely focused on establishing the run early.  The idea being to draw defenders in the box and open up favorable matchups to the outside receivers. If the Nittany Lions were so effective on vertical passing plays (and they were), why should that be limited to the 3rd and 4th quarter.  What would make me nervous if I were a Penn State fan would be what exactly the initial game planning was for.  Sure seemed like whatever James Franklin and his staff drew up first didn’t work that well.  That said, nobody in the country was better at making in-game adjustments.  It’s just having to do it to survive seems like playing with fire.  Sure it’s great to be that effective managing the game in real time.  What’s even better is not having to do that because Plan A is working fine.