EVANSTON, Ill. – “It’s not the standard of what Penn State is, what the brand is. It’s pretty embarrassing.”
Chase Sowell did not attempt to soften what has happened to Penn State’s offense over the past two weeks.
There isn’t much reason to.
Since Koby Howard went down with an injury, a receiving corps that needed to prove it could function without one of its biggest playmakers has instead shown just how important he was.
Penn State’s wide receivers combined for just six receptions and 70 yards against Wisconsin.
All six catches belonging to Sowell.
Brett Eskildsen was targeted six times without a reception, while Zay Robinson was targeted once and also went without a catch. Penn State finished with only 114 passing yards and no passing touchdowns in the 24-20 loss.
A week later at Northwestern, the raw numbers improved without necessarily solving the problem.
Sowell caught five passes for 68 yards and Penn State’s only passing touchdown. Eskildsen added six catches for 45 yards and Robinson caught two for 24. Penn State threw for 243 yards, but needed 41 attempts to get there in a 34-13 loss.
The wide receivers accounted for 137 of those yards.
There is production there. There just isn’t enough impact.
Sowell was asked after the Northwestern loss what Penn State means when it continually talks about “execution.”
It’s one of football’s favorite catch-all terms, but what specifically isn’t being executed?
“Maybe just a step. Maybe just an angle. Maybe just getting your eyes in a certain place,” Sowell said. “It’s just little things that people don’t really see. They might not even see it when you go back and replay it, but guys know what they have to get cleaned up, including myself.”
Those little things can become enormous for a receiver.
One step can determine whether a defensive back stays attached to a route or a receiver creates enough separation for Rocco Becht to confidently pull the trigger. An incorrect angle can turn what should be an open throwing window into a contested one. Eyes in the wrong place can affect everything from recognizing coverage to adjusting a route against leverage to executing a block that springs somebody else.
Those details don’t necessarily show up in a traditional box score.
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Against Northwestern, Sowell was targeted 12 times but caught only five passes. Penn State completed 26 passes overall, yet its longest completion went for only 26 yards. That’s an offense completing passes without consistently creating the explosive plays necessary to stress a defense.
Penn State isn’t getting nothing from its receivers, it isn’t getting enough.
Howard’s absence has left a major void because losing a playmaker doesn’t merely subtract that player’s statistics. It can change how a defense plays the entire group. Someone else must threaten coverage vertically. Someone must consistently win one-on-one. Someone has to force a safety to hesitate before becoming another defender against the run.
Until that happens, the effects can spread.
“We all talk about the rushing game, but in my head, I’m thinking, ‘What can I do to be better and help these guys out?’” Sowell said. “Because I know how much time they put into that, and I know how good our backs are. I know how good our O-line is. I know how good Mouser is.”
That’s an important acknowledgment.
Penn State rushed for just 48 yards against Northwestern after producing 119 against Wisconsin. The running game’s problems aren’t exclusively the receivers’ responsibility, but an offense is interconnected. Receivers creating separation, threatening defenses downfield and executing blocks on the perimeter can change the numbers and spacing everyone else encounters.
Howard isn’t walking through that huddle right now to fix it.
So the responsibility belongs to Sowell, Eskildsen, Robinson and everyone else Penn State puts outside.
Sowell understands that.
“I want to be contributing to that and get our playmakers out in space,” he said. “But yeah, I think it’s just little things, for sure.”
Penn State has spent two weeks discovering how costly those little things can become.
Now, after consecutive Big Ten losses, cleaning them up isn’t simply about replacing Howard’s production.
It’s about restoring a standard that Sowell himself acknowledges Penn State hasn’t come close to meeting.
