No. 20 Penn State searching for revitalized run game as Wisconsin visits (2024)

It was easy to see why this game was circled on calendars long before the season started, when both teams were expected to be in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

As seasons often go, though, No. 20 Penn State (6-3 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) and Wisconsin (6-3, 4-2) find themselves here with a noon kickoff (ABC) Saturday at Beaver Stadium and both teams trying to prove they are better than their record indicates despite how they’ve made it to November.

This game is as much about figuring out how Penn State responds after a blowout loss at Michigan as it is about an offense that needs to return to successfully running the ball. Bounce-back games are always tough to predict, much like these two teams have been this season.

Get Sanders back on track

Miles Sanders and the rest of Penn State’s running backs stood up during their position meeting this week and walked next door to the offensive line meeting room.

“With us struggling and with the run game being a little frustrating, we thought just us as running backs — no coaches — just to walk into the room and tell them we still trust them and we still appreciate them,” Sanders said. “I can’t even put into words how much I appreciate them, but we just have to get it going again and have that confidence back and have that mentality to run the ball like we did in the beginning.”

Penn State’s struggles on the ground — 118 rushing yards against Iowa and 68 yards against Michigan’s top-ranked defense — have been glaring. Sanders’ playmaking abilities were evident early in the season, and quarterback Trace McSorley almost single-handedly kept Penn State in the Ohio State game. However, since Sanders rushed for 162 yards against Michigan State, he’s accounted for 72, 62 and 14 yards rushing in the past three games.

With McSorley again expected to play wearing the knee brace he sported for the past game and a half, this offense needs the running game more than ever. This is a chance for the Lions to get some faith restored in their ground game against a Badgers run defense that ranks 96th in the FBS in yards per rush allowed, down from ninth last year. Wisconsin will be without senior nose tackle Olive Sagapolu, who has 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks but will miss the rest of the season due to injury.

Getting the ball back in Sanders’ hands, after two fumbled exchanges the past two weeks, will be key. Penn State’s inability to sustain drives — opponents possess the ball an average of six minutes more per game and have run 113 more total plays than Penn State — could be magnified. Wisconsin, much like Iowa and Michigan, will chew the clock with its run game. These three teams are among the top 15 in time of possession in the FBS, with the Badgers 15thand averaging 32 minutes per game, while Penn State is 122nd, averaging 27 minutes per game.

If Sanders gets going early, both as a runner and a receiver, it will help this offense escape its funk, move the chains and keep the powerful Wisconsin ground game on the sideline.

“Miles has shown that he can be a big-play back in this conference and that he can carry the load and get you the tough yards, as well as the big plays,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said. “It’s going to be very important that we find a way to establish the run game, again, so there’s not so much on the shoulders of Trace McSorley.”

The other third-down problem

At this point in the season, teams typically scale back practice, and Penn State has done as much, something that also plays into the need to keep this defense as fresh as possible after being on the field for an extended number of plays (346) over the past four weeks.

Penn State’s third-down defense, ranked 41stin the FBS, isn’t drastically different than the group that was 52nd in 2016 and 35th in 2017. However, the defense on this particular down hasn’t been as strong the past three games, with Indiana, Iowa and Michigan converting on 42, 35 and 57 percent of third downs, respectively, a mark at or above the Lions’ 35 percent conversion rate for the season.

“We need to lock in and do our job,” cornerback John Reid said. “A lot of those third downs we’re giving up we’re in a position that we’re not supposed to be in at, so just making sure we’re focusing on doing your job each snap because third downs are something we really emphasize here. It’s important.”

Penn State’s goal — a lofty one for any team — is to win 50 percent or more of its third downs, senior linebacker Koa Farmer said. The Nittany Lions’ defense is 32ndin passing efficiency on third downs, and they have given offenses different looks by bringing in their “Wild” package, where they bump defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos inside and try and get after teams that way.

Still, as the season wears on — and Wisconsin is known for wearing teams down — coming up with ways to create three-and-outs and shorter possessions would be a win for a defense that has jelled more as the season progressed and has been close to getting off the field with some forced fumbles, though the ball hasn’t bounced their way much for recoveries.

“For us, if we get to third down, that means we’re doing a good job, but it depends on if it’s like third-and-short, third-and-long,” Farmer said earlier this season. “If we do our work on first and second down, then we can put guys — put an extra corner in, more safeties in the game to make a play. … Third down, as Coach Pry says, that’s where the magic happens. That’s when the wild dogs come in or where the ‘Wild’ package comes in. That’s when it gets really fun.”

Limiting Jonathan Taylor

When Penn State defensive line coach Sean Spencer looked at film of Wisconsin’s star running back, Spencer was reminded of Taylor’s track background.

“He was a 100-meter champ in the state of New Jersey,” Spencer said. “As big and as low as he plays to the ground, he also has the breakaway speed, so he’s a tremendous challenge. I think he’s a pro running back. He runs with his pads rolled over. He can find the holes. I know they have big O-linemen, but he’s making people miss at the second level.”

Taylor leads the FBS in rushing yards (1,363) and has eclipsed the century mark rushing in every game this season except for two weeks ago against Northwestern. Penn State’s rushing defense is ranked 78thin the FBS, surrendering an average of 172 yards per game and 4.09 yards per rush.

Indiana’s Stevie Scott and Michigan’s Karan Higdon rushed for 138 and 132 yards, respectively, against Penn State, with Higdon’s 50-yarder setting the tone early and Scott and the Hoosiers gouging the Lions’ defense for a season-high nine rushes of 13-plus yards. With the fourth-ranked Wisconsin rushing offense here, the Lions can’t have lapses like they’ve had with players out of position and occasional whiffed tackles.

“There’s times where we’ve done a great job and we’ve been gap accountable and some of the things that you can’t see from the naked eye, you think a guy is getting pushed off the ball when really he’s not and it’s a front-seven thing, it’s not just the D-line,” Spencer said. “We just gotta have some consistency in what we’re doing. We’re there, we’re there at the point of attack, but we gotta come up big and make those plays. … Our consistency must get better.”

If Wisconsin controls the clock, it’ll force the Lions to dive into a bevy of substitutions. Though they like to play as many players as they can, the drop-off in production at certain spots — particularly as they develop depth at defensive tackle — has been something they’ve had to overcome this season.

If needed, don’t resist a QB change

Penn State won’t want to relive the on-again, off-again quarterback situation that unfolded late in the third quarter and during the fourth against Michigan as McSorley and Tommy Stevens flip-flopped. Franklin didn’t seem to regret having McSorley in the game late and down 35-0, but he did acknowledge that the change should have happened sooner.

McSorley’s health will again be kept close to the vest, but after playing last week with his right knee in a brace, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be the starter. Again, how effective he is will determine if the Lions need to lean on Stevens beyond his “Lion” role or not. Stevens said he’s approached and practiced the same way this week as usual, but if McSorley doesn’t look comfortable and isn’t as mobile as they need him to be — and this should be apparent in warmups and in the first quarter — they need to look at Stevens and potentially put him in the biggest game of his career to this point.

“I’ve always had the same routine at least — watching film, studying teams and watching practice (film),” Stevens said. “So as far as being on more of a high alert (this week), it is a high alert I would say, but it’s always on high alert. I’ve always been attentive and I’ve always been ready to go at a second’s notice. As far as reps and stuff at practice, it’s been pretty much the same thing, same weekly preparation.”

Taking McSorley out of a game hasn’t and won’t be easy. Franklin trusts what his quarterback tells him, and McSorley has earned the right to stay in, as he did against Iowa, if he can play at a high level. McSorley’s body of work suggests they’d need to drag him off the field, but Penn State shouldn’t let it get to that point if it’s clear he’s slowed. The team trusts his backup, and if needed, Stevens has waited his turn for the opportunity.

Prediction

If Wisconsin had a healthy quarterback (starter Alex Hornibrook is listed as questionable), it would still pound the ball. Penn State’s front seven knows what it’s getting a healthy dose of and has to be able to limit the damage on the ground. The Lions need a win in the worst way after falling apart in Ann Arbor and should be able to do enough with Sanders, KJ Hamler and Pat Freiermuth to close out this difficult three-game stretch with a 2-1 mark.

Penn State 27, Wisconsin 20

(Top photo of Miles Sanders by Randy Litzinger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Audrey Snyder has covered Penn State since 2012 for various outlets, including The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Patriot-News and DKPittsburghSports. Snyder is an active member of the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM) and is the professional adviser for Penn State’s student chapter. Follow Audrey on Twitter @audsnyder4