TigerSportsReport caught up with Nate Bauer of Blue White Illustrated and asked him some questions about the upcoming game.
TSR: When it comes to bowl games, a lot of times it comes down to the motivation factor. Which team is the most excited about being there & who wants it more? Especially when it comes to a P5 vs. G5 bowl game. Where do you think Penn State’s mind is and do you think they will come out highly motivated in this one?
NB : For a variety of reasons, I think that Penn State’s 2018 experience in the Citrus Bowl, losing 27-24 to Kentucky, proved to be a motivator for the program coming into this year. I don’t necessarily think Penn State came into that game with much juice, its season aspirations dashed much earlier in the year when it lost to Ohio State and Michigan State in back-to-back weeks, and the matchup wasn’t one in which they were able to get that juice back. So in losing that game, sending some critical seniors and juniors off in a way they didn’t want, Penn State was left with some sour taste in its mouth heading into the offseason.
Now, with most preseason prognostications already bested with its 10-2 record, I think Penn State is in a much better frame of mind for this game. Certainly, the hope within the program was for a shot at the Rose Bowl, but given the reality that the Outback Bowl seemed like a real possibility, even at 10-2, the fact that this program is back in a New Year’s Six bowl for the third time in four years offers another opportunity to continue its trajectory. Leaving Texas without a win on Saturday would undoubtedly be an interruption in that progress, though, in the minds of the program and its fans.
TSR : James Franklin has obviously done a tremendous job in his 6 years at the helm of the Nittany Lion program. He’s (55-23) overall at the school. Tell us a little bit about his tenure and the job he’s done up in State College, PA?
NB : It’s tough to properly summarize Franklin’s tenure, but the boiled down version is this:
The program was a near-catastrophe when he took over for Bill O’Brien in January 2014. The scandal devastated the perception of the program initially, and the NCAA sanctions created some serious challenges for O’Brien to keep everything afloat, but the reality was that the jolt of defiant energy that carried the program through the aftershock of the sanctions, the starkness of Penn State’s situation, and its bleak potential moving forward, really hit home upon Franklin’s arrival. There were no players. Sure, a few big names still joined the program, but there weren’t the number of bodies available to run a college football program the way it was needed against the type of competition Penn State was facing.So Franklin and his staff and players and everyone else just really ground it out, for lack of a better term. Two 7-6 seasons were enough to create a surprise Rose Bowl and Big Ten Championship year in 2016, followed by a Fiesta Bowl season in 2017, and now, Penn State is more or less at a place where it feels like it can at least compete for conference titles and College Football Playoff spots regularly.
TSR : This Nittany Lion defense is ranked 5th against the run and 10th in team sacks? Who are some of the standout guys and how have coaches Tim Banks and Brent Pry gotten it done this year?
NB: Penn State’s philosophy is pretty straightforward. These guys want to be extremely disruptive at the line of scrimmage, stop the run on first and second down, and then create havoc plays on third-and-long with sacks and interceptions on obvious passing downs.
For most of Penn State’s opponents on the schedule, that’s a winning formula, as the defensive line has been a consistently solid presence in the program for years now, and the linebackers just vacuum up tackles. The secondary’s job is to keep absolutely everything in front of it and just not give up the backbreaking big play, which it has done with relative success this year, but it hasn’t necessarily been able to create game-wrecking plays the way fans would probably like. The other side of that equation is that the ability of the pass rush to get home is integral to that success. Give a good quarterback time to make throws and Penn State’s defense becomes quite susceptible to offenses that are mature and patient and can work their way down the field.Standouts include ends Yetur Gross-Matos and Shaka Toney and linebacker Micah Parsons.
TSR : Penn State lost three-year starter Trace McSorley to graduation and was expecting backup and fifth-year senior Tommy Stevens to step in and fill that void. He entered the transfer portal back in the spring leaving sophomore Sean Clifford as the man under center. He brings that dual-threat aspect that the Tigers have struggled with at times. Talk about him as a player and the year he’s had.
NB : The issue for Penn State right now, and through the back side of the schedule after getting off to an 8-0 start, is that Clifford hasn’t been healthy enough to work the way that he needs to keep defenses off balance. When he’s at his best, he’s dropping back, moving in and out of the pocket to make passes, and taking off to keep the chains moving when nothing is available. He’s a gunner, too, so Penn State’s identity in wanting to create explosive plays offensively suits him as he frequently wants to take shots down the field.
TSR : Sophomore KJ Hamler has been the definition of production for this team. Not only does he get it done at WR but has been tremendous in the return game as well. In just only his second season how special of a talent is he & how much more room does he have to grow?
NB : Hamler is a tremendous talent, and he has plenty of room to grow. He makes plays with the ball in his hands and he makes plays for others without the ball in his hands just based on the sheer amount of attention he typically draws from opponents. He’s fast, he’s twitchy, he can get behind a defense, he can make plays underneath and turn them into more thanks to his elusiveness, and yeah, he’s always a threat with the ball in his hands as a return man.
TSR : Sophomore Journey Brown was the leader in the backfield for Penn St. scoring 10 TDs on a 6.1ypc average. Tell us about him as a player.
NB : The interesting thing about Brown is that few would have stepped up to project that for him this year before the season, and honestly, few would have even projected that for Brown even as he was getting it done. The perception after Miles Sanders’ departure last season was that Ricky Slade would be the guy, and if it wasn’t him, one of the true freshmen in Noah Cain or Devyn Ford would break through and take that role.
In some ways, that’s what happened with Cain as he had some early success and helped seal wins for Penn State against Iowa and Michigan as Slade just never quite found his footing to separate himself from what was billed as a four-headed rushing attack. When Cain got hurt in the first quarter at Michigan State, though, and then Slade featured a one-week disciplinary issue at Ohio State, it opened the door for Brown, who took advantage. He had double-digit carries in each of the last five games, cracked the century mark three times in that span, and had seven rushing touchdowns as well. He’s billed as a speedster, and no doubt he’s fast, but he’s just gotten much better becoming a running back this season as he’s learned the game. He hits the hole and takes what he’s given, he can make his man miss and is consistently a threat for a homerun carry.
TSR : Talk about the Penn St. offensive line and their body of work this season.
NB : All-in-all, Penn State’s offensive line was improved on its performance last season and continues to take strides on what it was earlier in Franklin’s tenure when it was a bit of an albatross for the offense. Michal Menet has been outstanding at center this season, Steven Gonzalez and Will Fries have been the other two veteran leaders at guard and tackle, respectively, and a rotation of Mike Miranda and C.J. Thorpe at guard and Rasheed Walker and Des Holmes at left tackle have been sturdy. The fact that no one talks about Penn State’s offensive line is pretty much the definition of success for this group.
TSR : Sophomore tight end Pat Freiermuth has been a big-time weapon for Clifford and this offense this season. He’s second on the team in receiving with 468yds and 7 TDs. Talk about him and that safety valve that he’s been for this offense.
NB : Freiermuth is anything but a safety valve for Penn State’s offense as, in some ways, he’s been Penn State’s most reliable receiver this year. He seems to catch just about everything, he’s a big mismatch on linebackers and safeties, and he’s one of Clifford’s favorite targets. He’s particularly effective in the red zone and has the numbers to back it up, making seven touchdown receptions this season to build on his production last year as a freshman.
TSR : What would you say is Penn State’s biggest strength?
NB : When everything is clicking offensively, it can take control of a game quickly with its explosiveness. And the sum of its parts, defense and special teams especially, helps create an environment for that offensive success. Use your defense to create stops and negative plays. Use your special teams to help that gained field position further. Then strike with your offense gets those opportunities. When Penn State is doing those things, as it has at times this season, it’s a tough team to stop.
TSR : What would you say is their biggest weakness?
NB : The counter to that narrative is the inconsistency that it seems to create, or that Penn State seems to be unable to overcome. The defense has been pretty good and consistent throughout the season and special teams have as well, though there will be plenty of arguments to the contrary that Penn State’s defense has allowed opponents to traverse the field too easily, even if points didn’t always result at the end of those possessions. Still, when Penn State doesn’t have good field position, or can’t produce big plays, the offense tends to struggle stringing drives together, though it should be noted and credited for doing exactly that a couple of times to win games this season, most notably at Iowa and to ice the Indiana game with an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive spanning 9:01 in the fourth quarter.
Bonus : If Penn State is to win this game what would it look like?
NB : This sounds dumber than it is, at least I hope anyway, but Penn State needs to put up points. It’s not going to keep this Memphis offense under a couple of touchdowns. I don’t think that necessarily means it’s destined to be a high scoring game or hit the over at 60.5 points, but unlike most of Penn State’s Big Ten brethren that just have an inability or, in some cases, even a desire to score bunches and bunches of points, this is a Memphis team that can and probably will get into the end zone at least a few times on Saturday.
With that in mind, the task then becomes to play out the scenario described earlier in which Penn State can play its best. Create some advantageous field position opportunities through defensive and special teams play. Hit on an explosive play or two early, not just to move the chains but to get into the end zone, and start to dictate how Memphis has to play offensively the rest of the way by becoming a little more predictable.
Score prediction?
I have Penn State 30 - Memphis 24, but this one is tough to gauge given the coaching staff changes for both programs. I would expect Penn State’s offensive and defensive lines to be among the more challenging that Memphis has faced on either side of the ball this season, but for Penn State, it’s all about having the explosiveness offensively and on special teams to, at minimum, get into the high 20s or low 30s if it wants any shot at a win.
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