The Penn State running game hasn’t gotten off to a hot start, and OC offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser feels it’s his fault.
Against Marshall in Week 1, Penn State rushed for 163 yards and averaged under four yards per carry, with no runner hitting 50 yards.
Saturday against Temple was a little better, with PSU rushing for fewer yards (148) but averaging more yards per carry (4.4).
No. 1 RB Carson Hansen gained 84 of those yards on 19 carries, but his 4.4 YPC average is well below what he did the past two seasons at Iowa State, where he averaged 5 and 5.1 yards per carry, respectively.
Mouser isn’t happy with how things have been on the ground.
“To say that I’m less than thrilled with where the run game’s at,” Mouser told reporters late Tuesday morning, “would be an understatement. I feel like there’s a lot of growth to be had there.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Mouser feels the man in the mirror is the one that needs to grow the most.
“We’re all frustrated with the level of mediocrity that I would call the run game, and that starts with me,” he said. “I’m more mad at myself than I am with the O-Line. We want to be a team that prides itself on being the most physical team and running the football. It’s shown progress through the first two weeks, but I think for us, we have to show a way where we can be dominant on the ground.”
Hansen’s a player who Mouser feels he hasn’t put in the best position to succeed.
“I don’t think I’ve done a good enough job as offensive coordinator of showcasing him, getting our offense in a rhythm on the ground so we can showcase what that guy is. He was an all-conference running back for us last year. Does that mean he’s an all-Big Ten running back? No, it doesn’t. But I know the level of work that that guy brings and the physicality and how important that is to him. For whatever reason, we’ve been a hair off. Either he’s missed it, and we’ve blocked it well or we haven’t blocked it well and there’s been (missed assignments on the ground that we need to clean up for him to be better. But it starts with bad playcalling on my end. I need to call things that our guys can execute at a high level, and I don’t feel like I’m doing a good enough job of that for Carson and for Cam (Wallace) and for (Quinton Martin) and for those guys to showcase how good our running back room is, our o-line room is, and our tight end room is. There’s a lot of talent there that we’re not living up to, and it starts with the offensive coordinator from a playcalling standpoint.”
