The vibe around Penn State football’s offense is different than it was a year ago.
New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki is the biggest reason.
In the lead up to Penn State’s 27-11 win over UCLA this past Saturday, a theme that beat writers gathered based on talking to people from QB Drew Allar to RB coach and co-OC Ja’Juan Seider was that Penn State is having a lot of fun this season
It’s always good to have fun and even better to win. Penn State, which is 5-0 and in the top four for the first time since 2021, is doing both. But it’s a long season, and Penn State fans were reminded of that last year.
At this point in 2023, Penn State was also 5-0 and ranked around the same spot at No. 6.
A little more than a month later, it fired its offensive coordinator, Mike Yurcich.
This led to the hiring of Kotelnicki, who turned lowly Kansas into one of America’s best offenses.
Through five games this season, Penn Stats is averaging 34 points and almost 462 yards, good for fourth in the Big Ten in each category.
Allar is one of the America’s most efficient quarterbacks, ranking 5th in passing efficiency and QBR. In the country, Penn State is 33rd in scoring, 22nd in total offense, 17th in rushing and 57th in passing.
#PennState in NCAA rankings
Scoring: 33rd.
Total offense: 22nd.
Rushing: 17th.
Passing: 57th.
Pass efficiency: 4th (Drew Allar 5th).
Scoring defense: 8th.
Total defense: 4th.
Rushing defense: 4th.
Passing defense: T11th.
Pass defense efficiency: 19th.— Rich Scarcella (@nittanyrich) October 6, 2024
Penn State also has a more balanced receiving corps.
a couple Penn State receiving notes:
– 2024: Liam Clifford is the fourth 100-yard receiver in 5 games
– 2023: 2 100-yard receivers in 13 games– 2024: 4 different leading receivers in 5 games
– 2023: 4 different leading receivers in 13 games https://t.co/I0tYfj7cLK— Daniel Gallen (@danieljtgallen) October 7, 2024
But not everybody is impressed.
“New OC, same issues,” wrote national columnist and “Godfather of Recruiting” Mike Farrell to MikeFarrellSports.com.
Through five games last season, Penn State was averaging 40.6 points.
Farrell described the offense as “conservative and lacks explosiveness,” and feels that this will come back to bite them in the College Football Playoff.
“It will hurt them again,” he wrote. “Their schedule is pretty easy and 10-2 or even 11-1 looks possible and maybe even likely. But when it comes down to a need for big plays, they will fall short in the playoff.”
Farrell then described Penn State’s receivers as “average” and Allar as “solid but not spectacular,” before questioning Penn State’s ability to come back from a big deficit should it face one at some point.
“They aren’t a team that can come back from 10 or more points to a very good team,” Farrell wrote.
Penn State has its biggest test of the season this Saturday. It will take on USC at the Colisuem with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 ET (12:30 pacific time) on CBS.