DisruptU PSU Presents The Penn State Pulse With Dylan Dawson "Excessive Penalties Must Be Addressed"

This is The Penn State Pulse With Dylan Dawson and in this episode Dawson reviews Penn State's recent victory over Illinois, highlighting key performances and areas for improvement. The discussion covers Tom Allen's defensive adjustments, the dominance of the offensive and defensive lines, and the standout performances of running backs Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. However, Dawson also addresses concerns regarding the kicking game and certain penalties that must be resolved as the season progresses.

TAKEAWAYS:

•Tom Allen's adjustments were crucial for the win.

•Penn State's defense has allowed only nine points in the second half.

•The offensive line is showing elite potential this season.

•Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton are a formidable running back duo.

•The kicking game is a significant area for improvement.

•Penn State needs to finish drives with points more effectively.

•Excessive penalties can change the course of a game.

•The team must address these penalty issues before facing tougher opponents.

•Overall, the team has potential but needs to clean up mistakes.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome back into the Penn State Pulse. I'm your host,
Dylan Dawson.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Penn State put a fairly sloppy performance on tape Saturday night,
but still came away with their first ranked win on
the young season, topping number nineteen Illinois by the score
of twenty one to seven.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
So let's jump into this thing as usual with the
things that stood out to me.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
First, Tom Allen's adjustments were very big in this game.
Don't think I didn't see all my comments calling for
Tom Allen's head after that opening drive by Illinois.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
No one's safe around here. I see everything.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
But after going with a pretty vanilla defense on that
opening drive, Tom Allen did what he's done through all
four games now and made the necessary adjustments.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm gonna read something off to you, guys.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
And this stat is very telling of set adjustments that
this defense has made through four games now. Penn State
has allowed nine total points in the second half of
their contest.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Nine. That is very impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
That defensive line, in particular, is finally beginning to flash
their elite potential, as they turned it up a notch
in their first conference against their first conference foe of
the season.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
They ended up.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Tallying thirteen tackles for loss and seven sacks against Illinois.
That's very impressive, especially compared to what they were putting
up numbers wise to the first three games of this season.
So that kind of leads me into my next point,
which is that Penn State might actually be truly elite
in the trenches. Not really sure how it's possible, but

(01:34):
after losing a ton of talent along both lines to
the NFL, Penn State may actually be even better in
the trenches this season. Illinois is a big, tough team,
and the Ninty Lions simply pushed them around all night long.
Look no further than the rushing stats to prove this,
as Penn State ran for two hundred and thirty nine
yards in three.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Touchdowns and held Illinois.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
To thirty four yards and zero touchdowns on thirty two carries.
That comes out to one point one yards per carry
for the fighting Alni. I went with Abdul Carter as
my netny line of the game, and for good reason,
as he put up a ridiculous stat line of eight pressures,
seven tackles, four tackles for lost, two sacks, force fumble,

(02:17):
and one pass defense he wasn't the only one on
that front seven that dominated, though, So let me give
credit where credit is due, my guy Zaane Durant out
there on the interior, he put up four tackles, two
tackles for loss, and a sack. Those numbers don't even
tell the whole story, though, as he was just man
handling the interior of that Illinois offensive line all game long.

(02:39):
Kobe King at linebacker also put together another great performance.
He's having an awesome year in the mic position. He
put up seven tackles, one and a half tackles for loss,
and a sack of his own. On the opposite side
of the ball, Drew Shelton, he seems to be showing
some improvement with run blocking in particular. Venga Ya and

(03:00):
Nick Dawkins have been I'm honestly pretty elite on the interior,
both living up to their preseason hype. And then some
coach Franklin actually praised Dawkins in particular in his Monday presser,
saying quote, we had high expectations for him, but I
actually think he's playing better than we anticipated. And then finally,
I can't talk about the offensive line without highlighting Anthony Dunko.

(03:24):
We haven't heard his name very much at all this season,
which is quite a good thing when talking about an
offensive lineman. He has been absolutely holding it down over
their right tackle and I think he'll be able to
hang with the best of the best ed rushers in
the Big Ten and honestly around the country.

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Speaker 1 (05:03):
So next up, I have to highlight this two headed
monster at running back.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
We've heard it a million times for going on three
years now, but there's no sign of stop in k
Tron Allen and Nick Singleton. I know I already mentioned
the run game, but that was more about crediting the
offensive line, So these running backs need their flowers as well.
Singleton and Allen once again each put up great performances
in the same game, both averaging nearly six yards per

(05:29):
carry against a very stout Illinois run defense. K Tron
went for one hundred and two yards and a touchdown
on eighteen carries, while Nick went for ninety four and
a tuddy on sixteen carries. These two backs, paired with
an offensive line that's becoming increasingly dominant, and run blocking
is a unit that can do some serious damage in
this conference. They just took over the game on Saturday

(05:51):
night and showed us a bullying rough around the edges
personality that we haven't quite seen to that extent in
past Penn State teams in past tiers. So let's jump
into some areas for improvement. Just gave you guys a
bunch of good for you to sit on, so let's
talk about some of the bad. The first thing that
needs to be addressed is obviously the kicking game. Sanders said.

(06:14):
Haydak went oh for two on the day, missing both
from forty yards out. That just that simply can't happen
when the competition increases and every point matters that much more.
Sander is now three for nine in his career at
Penn State and one for six from thirty plus yards out.
I get that you need to trust your kicker and

(06:34):
give him enough opportunities, but I'd say that this experiment
should be coming to an end.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
He's had plenty of them.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
So Heyak just can't string together consistent performances, and Penn
State does not have the time to sit around and
hope that it just works out. I really think they
need to make a change here. If you guys recall
my preseason, it was like a breakout player episode where
I picked a player at every position. I was calling
for a walk on Ryan Barker to possibly start. That

(07:03):
hasn't come to fruition yet. As far as the kicking game,
Penn State did send him out there after their final
touchdown last Saturday for the extra point, which he did make.
So if they do indeed make a change at place kicker,
it's going to be either Barker or Tulsa transfer Chase Meyer.
Meyer was able to go seventeen for twenty last season
at Tulsa and that included a nearly perfect seven for

(07:27):
eight from thirty to thirty nine yards out and three
for five from forty plus yards Not too bad, much
better than what they're putting on the field right now.
Peterson used to make a change at kicker before they're
going up against the likes of USC, Wisconsin, and Ohio State,
which are all in a row.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
By the way, make the change. James's time. Finish your drives.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
This is another issue ties a lot into my last
point with the kicking game, but Penn State will need
to find a way to finish drive with points at
a higher clip than they did against the fighting Alainai.
PSU had three hundred and seventy four yards and nearly
thirty four minutes of time of possession Saturday night, but
only twenty one points.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
To show for it.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
The issues with the field goal kicking is absolutely the
big factor here, but I also thought Andy kottle Nicky
made a few poor decisions when Pennce's offense would get
down around the red zone. Although the run game was working,
I think he leaned on that a little too much
toward the end of drives. Illinois was in that pressman
coverage for the majority of the night, as expected, so

(08:33):
I was hoping to see more play action leading into
crossers and mesh concepts, especially when they were closing in on.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Points down there in the red zone.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
And then finally, I need to hit on the lack
of discipline. We've never really seen these sort of things
become an issue to the extent that they have this
season under James Franklin. Penn State has some major penalty
issues and they have not gone away through four games.
It's typical for teams to have some sloppy mistakes through
the first few weeks of this season, as they gel

(09:01):
and become more comfortable with their schemes, but PSU can't
seem to wrangle them in. The big one on Saturday
Night was on the would be pick six by AJ
Harris that was called back by a very unnecessary block
in the back on Zion Tracy. I know it's much
harder to make a decision like that in real time,
but Harris was on his way to the end zone regardless.

(09:23):
It's just something you can't really do in a situation
like that, and I want to reiterate that, just like
the missfield goals, a play like that can change the
entire course of a game against an opponent like Ohio State.
Most of the nittni Lions penalties, though, have been pre
and post snap ones, which is just as frustrating. The
defense has consistently had probably three or four off sides

(09:44):
in every game this season. Now they probably had like
five against West Virginia, but there's been an excessive amount
of unnecessary roughness penalties as well. All of this can
still be cleaned up, but again those changes are going
to have to come very soon.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
So that is gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
For today's episode of The Penn State Pulse, Thank you
so much for tuning in, and i'll see y'all in
a few days to break down Penn state Saturday matchup
with the UCLA Bruins.