Forty-nine sacks later, Penn State led the nation a year ago. It was one of the reasons defensive coordinator Manny Diaz landed a head coaching job at Duke.
That national-best effort started with seven sacks in the first two games against West Virginia and FCS Delaware.
A year later, the Nittany Lions are looking to stay aggressive under new coordinator Tom Allen. And while the defense has been disruptive in wins over West Virginia and Bowling Green, the sacks haven’t come.
Yet.
Coach James Franklin is expecting things to improve as the Lions recorded two sacks in the first two games headed into Saturday’s return to action against Kent State.
“If you look at West Virginia, I think they were one of the best teams in the country last year in not giving up sacks in terms of stylistically how they play,” Franklin said. “All those things factor in, but at the end of the day we would like more production in that area, and I think it’s going to come.”
It’s far from expected for Penn State to lead the country for the second straight year. The Lions lost Big Ten sack leader in Adisa Isaac along with first-round pick Chop Robinson to the NFL.
To help compensate, the Lions moved Abdul Carter from linebacker to end, where he forms a potent duo with another NFL hopeful in Dani Dennis-Sutton.
Both of Penn State’s sacks in 2024 came in the opener against the Mountaineers, recorded by Zane Durant and Smith Vilbert. The Lions came up empty against Bowling Green as they turned in one of their worst performances in the first half of that game before buckling down after the break.
The scheme under Allen isn’t identical to how it was under Diaz, but the mentality hasn’t changed.
“It’s kind of the same aggressiveness since last year, but you got to come out faster (to start the game),” Carter said after the 34-27 win over the Falcons. “That was unacceptable. It was unacceptable for us. But coach does a great job just defining aggression, taking away from stacking the effort, and he defines that every day in the meeting so I feel like he does a good job just making us do that every day.”
Carter is still looking for his first sack since his position switch, but he certainly has made an impact.
The junior has drawn frequent double-teams from opponents. Against Bowling Green, he made one of the biggest plays by the defense when he burst through on a fourth-down play and broke up a pass for a turnover.
The Falcons made sure to have a gameplan that wouldn’t allow the Lions to tee off on the quarterback. It helped to have a veteran in sixth-year quarterback Connor Bazelak — who previously started games at Missouri and Indiana — who was able to make quick decisions with the ball.
“We’ve been as successful in sacking the quarterback and tackles for losses arguably of any program in the country over the last 10 years,” Franklin said. “We’re part of that argument. So I think that is always kind of the plan (for the opponent). … How do (they) nullify that strength as much as possible? Quick game, screens, move the pocket, run the ball, keep the game close.”
Franklin was also quick to point out that these strategies aren’t anything new. And it’s up to the Lions to counter them.
“The thing that you can do to really throw a curve ball to that gameplan is get up by enough points early in the game that they need to get away from that gameplan,” Franklin said. “So creating three and outs and turnovers and scoring on early drives on offense. Get them down by 17, 21 points where they feel like they’re going to have to throw the ball more to get back in the game. Then that obviously leads to opportunities as well.”
That clearly didn’t happen against the Falcons, who led by as many at 10 points in the first half and stayed in front until midway through the third quarter.
A defense that was gashed for big plays and gave up a stunning 24 points in the first half held the Falcons to just a last-minute field goal in the second.
“I would say it definitely wasn’t the same energy as the second half,” linebacker Kobe King said after the game. “The corrections were made, adjustments were made, and alterations were made as well. We just had to pick up the energy. That was really it. The energy was low. I would say that for myself as well. It definitely changed in the second half and it showed.”
King is typically responsible for the communication on defense now that one player can have radio communication with the coaches in their helmet.
This new addition to the college game takes some getting used to, and it played a role in the defense’s issues early against the Falcons. Though the Lions opened on the road, they seemed to have more issues with getting plays to the entire defense through the noise from the home crowd at Beaver Stadium.
“We were trying to rely specifically on the headset communication, and at home that can be a little bit more challenging with the linebacker trying to verbally communicate to all 11 guys on the field,” Franklin said.
“… On defense you don’t typically huddle. You condense a little bit, but you don’t necessarily huddle. That created some challenges for us and allowed us some opportunities to get those things cleaned up in the second half and really moving forward.”
It certainly couldn’t have helped that one of the defense’s best players, safety KJ Winston, missed all but a few plays against Bowling Green with an undisclosed injury.
Franklin had no immediate update on Winston, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if he got another week of rest rather than play in a game in which the Lions are historically big favorites at 48.5 points.
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