Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer preached the line “250/250,” during his reign in Columbus.
Meyer felt if his team could be balanced and get 250 yards on the ground and in the air, it was going to win.
When you look at Meyer’s resume, he has the highest career winning percentage of any coach who has five or more seasons in the FBS that started after World War II with an .853 winning percentage.
Meyer won more 90% of his games at Ohio State, including six of seven matchups with Penn State between 2012 and 2018.
Penn State took care of business Saturday against Nevada 46-11, but it seems the Penn State offense stalled several times and the ground game averaged less than four yards per carry.
The last time a Penn State team averaged less than four yards per game against an out of conference foe that wasn’t in the Power 4 was Villanova in 2021.
Penn State averaged 2.4 yards per carry and the leading rusher had 45 yards.
That Penn State team was among the worst in the nation averaging 107.8 yards per game.
This team is way more talented in the trenches and backfield than that 2021 group but it doesn’t mean this team can autopilot its way to the “White Out” Sept. 27 against Oregon, a likely top 5 matchup.
“Finishing drives on offense, kicked too many field goals, which I think I got that question afterwards which was a fair question. More than anything, you look at the first; one of the drives where the first play of the drive we’re running outside zone and we don’t block the three technique and we get a tackle for loss and now you’re off schedule,” head coach James Franklin said at his weekly press conference on Monday.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“So that’s what I think we’ve still got to get cleaned up, is we had some missed assignments and things like that that made the game more difficult than it needed to be, so we need to get those things fixed up.”
One of the biggest takeaways many had following the Nevada game was the notion the passing game is “fixed.”
Penn State had 16 receptions go to its wide receivers in the game: Trebor Pena (7), Kyron Hudson (6), Tyseer Denmark (2), Devonte Ross (1).
The last time Penn State had a game where the wide receivers had 15 or more receptions was against Maryland in 2023.
Allar had plenty of time to read the Wolf Pack defense, delivering precision passing to the tune of completing 22 of 26 on the day.
Overall, Penn State quarterbacks completed 82.8% of their passes – typically what elite aerial attacks do against inferior competition.
Although Penn State enjoyed arguably its best passing game in the last three seasons, the critical errors on the offensive line on getting their assignments hurt the running game from getting splash plays.
“But to the point, that was really what happened,” Franklin said. “We’d get off schedule, somebody’d blow an assignment, we’d get a tackle for loss or a zero-gain play, and now we’re kind of behind the sticks and weren’t able to overcome that.”
While running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for three touchdowns, the duo many felt are the best in the nation combined for 62 yards on 16 carries.
The 16 carries simply aren’t enough for either Singleton or Allen to get into rhythm.
Maybe they weren’t given the opportunity to be successful considering the duo averaged nearly 25 carries a game a season ago.
Franklin understands clearly what it means to achieve balance before the reigning Big Ten champions come to town because teams of Oregon’s caliber take something away and force you to be one dimensional.
“We have to make sure that we’re balanced enough that we can run or pass by the time we get to the mid-point of the season. That we can run or pass to win games, because the best teams, that’s what they’re going to do. They are going to try to take one of these things away. You’ve got to figure out what those things are as early as you can in the game and take what the defense gives.”
Meyer’s axiom at Ohio State of 250/250 should be achievable by this group with their talent superiority over the competition they will have over the next two games.
It will be ill advised for Franklin and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki not to have this offense humming in high gear. Very few have ever had the ability to just turn it on, let’s hope Franklin and the staff don’t chance it with ample opportunity to get it right before it all gets serious.
