Purdue tested Audavion Collins six times.
It got four yards.
Coming out of Penn State’s 31-17 win, Collins has allowed five catches for 32 yards on 20 targets this season. Purdue had seen enough on film to know the odds. It threw his way nearly half as often in one afternoon as Penn State’s first seven opponents had combined. One completion later, the Boilermakers had done little to improve them.
That gives us a better answer to a question raised in last week’s column I wrote on the secondary: How much credit should the defensive backs get for Penn State’s low passing yardage when opponents had good reason to keep running the ball?
Against Purdue, Collins got more work than usual. What happened on those six throws matters more than the tenth of a yard Penn State added to its season average.
What Patton Saw On The Interception
When I asked safety Jamison Patton how the secondary had held up on days the pass rush struggled, he gave the guys up front some credit.
“If we cover, the guys are going to get home,” Patton said after the win. “If the guys don’t get home, it’s going to be harder for us.”
His interception offered a look at both halves of that answer. A roughing-the-passer call had kept Purdue on the field. Penn State brought pressure from the corner, the pressure reached the quarterback and Patton was there for the errant throw. The ensuing field goal gave the Nittany Lions a 10-point lead.
There’s a cost to sending a corner. Somebody still has to account for the space he leaves, and if the quarterback gets the ball out cleanly, he can make the defense pay for borrowing a rusher from the secondary. Patton described his part as being in the right spot at the right time.
From defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s perspective, that’s much of the appeal of this group. He can ask one defensive back to hurry the throw and trust another to be where the ball goes.
Purdue finished with 142 passing yards on 10 completions. Penn State’s offense owned the ball for 43:27, which helped keep the yardage down. The more telling figure was what Purdue did with the snaps it had after halftime. In 22 plays, it gained 32 yards.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Why Collins and Dixson Have Campbell’s Trust
On Tuesday, Matt Campbell was asked about Collins and fellow corner Daryus Dixson. His answer began with the three days most Penn State fans never see.
“What you see every single day in practice – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – is exactly what you’re getting on Saturday,” Campbell said. “They are pros’ pros, in my opinion.”
Campbell recalled giving Dixson a spring practice award for consistency. What stuck with him were Dixson’s special teams reps. He saw the same attention there that Dixson brought to playing corner. With Collins, Campbell remembered having much the same impression in spring ball that he had at the end of camp and still has in November. “Nothing’s been handed to A.C. Collins,” he said.
Patton offered a teammate’s version of that evaluation. I asked whether Collins leads the room, he answered, “For sure.” The more revealing answer came when I asked what went through his mind seeing Collins line up on offense against Purdue.
“What was going through my head is, ‘I hope we do something good,’” Patton said. “It was crazy to see him out there.”
The offensive appearance gave everyone else a glimpse of the athlete Patton sees in practice. For a younger defensive back trying to learn from Collins, though, the more instructive snaps are the ones he’s spent in coverage. Quarterbacks have targeted him on only 20 of them. A corner can go a long stretch without the ball coming his way. Purdue found out how ready Collins was when it finally did.
Washington has reason to keep testing him. The Huskies average 276.8 passing yards per game, fourth in the Big Ten. Chris Lawson caught 12 passes for 155 yards in last week’s 17-10 win at Nebraska. One Washington receiver caught more balls that afternoon than Purdue’s entire team did at Penn State.
That makes Saturday in Seattle a particularly good test of what Campbell values in his corners.
Washington just won a road game by going back to a receiver it trusted, right through the fourth-quarter touchdown that put it ahead.
If the Huskies show that same patience against Penn State, Collins and Dixson will have to earn their coach’s confidence several times on the same drive.
After eight games, that sounds like a matchup worth watching well before the ball is thrown.
