Penn State coach James Franklin knows the offense needs to be more explosive, and tight end Luke Reynolds doesn’t feel its far away.
PSU had four “explosive plays” (plays of 20+ yards) in its Week 1 win against Nevada.
Against FIU Week 2, the offense had the same four explosive plays, only this one looked better since it featured touchdowns of 42 and 67 yards.
Franklin said after both games that the explosion hasn’t been good enough.
“We won (the explosive plays battle),” Franklin said after the FIU game, “but it’s still not as explosive as we need to be on offense.”
Reynolds is confident this won’t last much longer.
WHAT REYNOLDS SAID
“I think when we get there, it will be one of the most explosive offenses in the country,” Reynolds told reporters via Zoom Tuesday. “I think what it is right now is just trusting the process. Obviously we have things that we’d have preferred to been cleaner the first two weeks but the energy’s great, so everyone’s buying into it. Every team’s journey’s different. So we’ll break through, and we’ll be one of the most explosive offenses in the country. I’m very confident.”
WHAT’S THE HOLDUP?
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
Franklin went more in-depth about explosive plays in his Monday presser this week.
“Yeah, we missed a couple of throws,” he said. “We had some drops. I think we had five drops. When you catch the ball there is a chance that you’re going to make somebody miss and those are going to— say half of those turn into explosive plays.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Franklin is also confident Penn State’s dynamic running backs duo of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen will be a big part in increasing the explosion.
Allen helped the cause with a 67-yard touchdown run late in the FIU game.
“Then I think there are times where just like Kaytron did on Saturday, you break a tackle,” Franklin said. “Now you got a chance for one of those runs to go. That’s going to happen, as we’ve seen for the last four years with Nick as well. So those things will come. They’ll come organically just by doing the things we should be doing, breaking tackles, making people miss as ball carriers, that’s as receivers and running backs.
“Maximizing the opportunities that we get, hitting a few more of the throws, straining in protection a little bit longer, all those things. All those things I think are important and helpful.”
It would also help Penn State to be better on third down.
Penn State went 3-for-12 on third down Saturday, and Franklin expressed after the game that it wasn’t good enough.
“Again, if our third down percentage goes up, that will create more opportunities,” he said Monday. “Our defense getting off the field on third down with more three-and-outs will create more opportunities as well. Time of possession wasn’t great, right? So all these things factor in. It’s not just one thing. Like our favorite media [saying], “Just Chuck it Deep” deal, all these things factor into it. To be fair, I think we probably could throw it down the field a few more times. But then it’s also about the ones we throw, catching, and making people miss. It’s making the free hitter miss in the running game, standing in protection a little bit longer, and making a few more of the throws. You do a little bit better in each one of those areas and now all of a sudden you’re close to 20% explosive plays.
Penn State had four explosive plays out of 64 against FIU (6%) and four out of 71 against Nevada (5%). So it has a long way to go.
No. 2 Penn State takes on Villanova Saturday at 3:30 at Beaver Stadium on FS1.
