In the tumultuous days leading up to Penn State’s appearance in the Outback Bowl, head football coach James Franklin was asked to evaluate Mike Yurcich’s first season as offensive coordinator.
Franklin side-stepped the question, though the 2021 Penn State offense had already been on the field for 339 minutes and 36 seconds by that point. No doubt Franklin had an opinion – probably several — but he chose not to share them publicly.
The Nittany Lions were 7-5 at the time and in the throes of a 2-5 stretch where they averaged just 22.5 points per game, including final tallies of 17, 18 and 20 points.
For their part, many Penn State fans had seen enough…figuratively and literally.
Franklin’s answer that day (Dec. 17) was a bit of a word salad, totaling 546 words without providing much of an evaluation at all. Here’s a big chunk of his reply:
“Yeah, I haven’t really at this point gone back and literally broke it all down and studied all the
data,” Franklin said. “Obviously, we would have loved to have put more points on the board and been more explosive and been more consistent. And that’s really what we will spend a lot of time doing once the season is ended, is going back through everything — offense, defense, special teams — and really kind of map it all out and where were we good, where we were not good, what were the reasons for us not being good in really all three phases.
“As you can imagine, I think it’s a really good question and fair question. But as you can imagine, from the time we played our last game we have been on the road recruiting. I think we did 17 home visits the last week. And then on the same time, I’m trying to help Brent Pry in his situation at Virginia Tech.
“To answer your question … that will be something we’ll do a deep dive on. But offensively, defensively and special teams — obviously, we would like to be No. 1 in the country, No. 1 in the Big Ten, whatever it is in every single category. And we’re going to have to do a deep dive on all those things and say, ‘OK, where weren’t we good enough, why weren’t we good enough in that area, what modifications can we make and what needs to be resolved?’ (That’s) either through the recruiting process, through the transfer portal or the old-fashioned development, which is a huge part of it as well. That’s development of the players and development of the staff, too.”
For his part, that day Yurcich didn’t sidestep it when asked essentially the same question.
“I take the blame,” Yurcich said. “It solely falls on my shoulders and we’ll get better, I’ll get better. We’re going to work really hard to get us to a championship-level offense and we’re not there yet. We’re going to continue to strive and drive and do all the things necessary to compete and get to that level — or I’m gonna die trying.”
Here’s how Penn State, Franklin and Yurcich got to that point (remembering, too that the Nittany Lions fell 24-10 to Arkansas in the Outback Bowl, going scoreless in the final 35 minutes):
Franklin pulled a double move at OC/QB coach back on Jan. 8, 2021, when he fired Kirk Ciarrocca just 20 days after Penn State’s final game of its irregular 4-5 pandemic season – a 56-21 victory over Illinois on Dec. 19, a week after defeating Michigan State 39-24.
By contrast, it was 24 days after Penn State’s regular-season-ending 30-27 loss at Michigan State, when Franklin was queried for an assessment of Yurcich’s work. And essentially punted.
• • •
It could be awhile until we hear again from Franklin and thus get that evaluation.
The second National Letter of Intent Signing Day is Wednesday, Feb. 2 (it’s also Franklin’s 50th birthday). And – usually – Franklin would meet the media that day. But if PSU doesn’t sign any more high school players, Franklin could waive the presser. That could potentially push his next media availability all the way to spring practice, which typically starts the second week of March.
So, let’s take a look at the Penn State’s offensive 2021 season ourselves.
We’ll use two criteria: 1.) What were Franklin’s expectations of Yurcich when he was hired last January, and 2.) Where does Penn State’s 2021 offense rank vs. Franklin’s previous offenses (2014-20), against each other and nationally.
But before we do, any assessment of Yurcich after Year One must include his success on the recruiting trail. Primarily because of Yurcich, five-star quarterback recruit (and current Nittany Lion freshman) Drew Allar is now at Penn State – as is talented PA QB Beau Pribula. In the end, that outweighs all of the numbers below, both good and bad, when evaluating Yurcich’s impact at Penn State to-date. Bottom-line: Without Yurcich, Allar does not enroll at Penn State.
• • •
At his introductory presser announcing the OC fire/hire, Franklin emphasized three key areas where he expected Yurcich – who has an impressive resume that includes stops at Oklahoma State (2013-18), Ohio State (2019) and Texas (2020) — to make an immediate impact:
More explosive plays, more points and fewer turnovers.
“Those things are the three most important things you’re going to do on offense — and how that impacts our locker room, how that impacts recruiting, all of it,” Franklin said. “So, a combination of all those things. But a very tough, tough decision; but something that I felt like was the right thing for us to do moving forward long-term.
“You better be able to protect the football and create explosive plays,” Franklin added. “Those are two areas that we were not successful at this past season (2020).”
Franklin also said he wanted more players to be in the offensive mix.
“I want to get more guys involved, and I want to get more guys touches,” Franklin said. “I want to get more guys’ hands on the ball. I think it makes you more difficult to defend when the ball can go to a number of different people and gets a bunch of different people involved in your program.”
(Plus, it helps keep the transfer portal from clogging up.)
Let’s see how Penn State did in 2021 vs. 2020 in the key categories outlined by Franklin. At the same time, we also have to recognize that there were issues with Penn State’s offensive line last season, and that quarterback Sean Clifford was battling significant injuries.
But, the 2021 season was Franklin’s eighth at PSU and as the $8.5 million dollar man he is ultimately responsible for the recruitment and development of the offensive line, as well as a backup plan if Clifford got hurt — no matter who the O-coordinator is/was. After all, Yurcich was Franklin’s third offensive coordinator in three seasons.
In the words of former NFL coach Bill Parcells, Franklin shopped for the groceries, yet in 2021 it was Yurcich’s turn to cook the dinner.
Under Yurcich, Penn State’s offense did not improve in three of the four categories. The Nittany Lions did do a better job of not turning the ball over. The key areas, according to Franklin:
Points scored — A drop of almost 5 points per game in 2021; lowest since 2015.
| Year | Avg. Points Per Game |
| 2014 | 20.6 |
| 2015 | 23.2 |
| 2016 | 37.6 |
| 2017 | 41.1 |
| 2018 | 33.8 |
| 2019 | 35.8 |
| 2020 | 29.9 |
| 2021 | 25.0 |
Explosive plays (20 yards or more) — A small dip: from 4.7 to 4.5 per game, which is the worst in past 6 years.
| Year | Run | Pass | Total | Avg. Per Game |
| 2014 | 12 | 33 | 45 | 3.5 |
| 2015 | 20 | 36 | 56 | 4.3 |
| 2016 | 26 | 65 | 91 | 6.5 |
| 2017 | 26 | 59 | 85 | 6.5 |
| 2018 | 23 | 49 | 72 | 5.6 |
| 2019 | 22 | 41 | 63 | 4.8 |
| 2020 | 13 | 29 | 42 | 4.7 |
| 2021 | 8 | 51 | 59 | 4.5 |
Ball distribution — Same in ’20 and ’21 for combined rushers with 30 carries and receivers with 10 catches (11).
| Year | Rush | Rec. | Total |
| 2014 | 4 | 9 | 12 |
| 2015 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| 2016 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 2017 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 2018 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| 2019 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| 2020 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| 2021 | 4 | 7 | 11 |
Turnovers — A significant drop in turnovers lost per game, from 1.88 to 1.15, third-best in the Franklin era.
| Year | Fum. | Int. | Total | Avg. Per Game |
| 2014 | 11 | 15 | 26 | 2.00 |
| 2015 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 1.38 |
| 2016 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 1.42 |
| 2017 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 1.00 |
| 2018 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 1.61 |
| 2019 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 1.07 |
| 2020 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 1.88 |
| 2021 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 1.15 |
• • •
Historically, Penn State’s offense in 2021 was its worst of the past six seasons in many categories — total offense, rushing and points. It was the second-worst of the Franklin era in the red zone, a bit ahead of what how PSU performed in 2020.
Conversely, the Nittany Lions’ 2021 passing attack was ranked No. 26 nationally, the second-best such ranking in Franklin’s tenure at Penn State. However, its average yards per pass attempt — a good measure of passing efficiency – was PSU’s worst since 2015. So was its average per completion, at 12.0 yards. Comparatively, the 2016 Nittany Lions averaged 16.15 yards per completion. Nationally in 2021, Penn State ranked 118th out of 130 teams running the ball, and its offense was ranked 82nd, by far its worst ranking since 2015.
When it comes to hitting the four key metrics Franklin is looking for in an offensive coordinator, Penn State’s 2017 season – under OC/QB coach/savant Joe Moorhead – comes closest to perfection.
That season, Penn State averaged 41.1 points per game (No. 7 nationally); ranked 13th in total yards (460); averaged just one turnover per game; and had 6.5 explosive plays of over 20 yards per game. Its only failing, using the Franklin criteria, was a lack of great ball distribution, at least in quantity. But those Nittany Lions did have four receivers with more than 50 catches (future NFLers Mike Gesicki, Juwan Johnson, Saquon Barkley, DaeSean Hamilton) and a 1-2 rushing punch of Barkley and Trace McSorley that shared 361 carries.
As a reminder, here are the five OC’s Franklin has had in eight seasons: John Donovan (2014-15), Moorhead (2016-17), Ricky Rahne (2018-19), Ciarrocca (2020) and Yurcich (2021).
Here’s how Penn State’s offense has fared in key categories since 2014 (national rankings in parentheses):
| Year | Yds./game | Run: game/rush | Pass: game/att. | Red zone |
| 2014 | 335 (111) | 101.9/2.94 (117) | 233.4/6.1 (61) | 82.5% (68) |
| 2015 | 348 (105) | 134/4.1 (105) | 214.5/6.9 (74) | 93.3% (6) |
| 2016 | 433 (49) | 171.9/4.46 (66) | 260.7/9.34 (36) | 86.6% (43) |
| 2017 | 460 (13) | 170.2/4.9 (59) | 290.2/8.24 (23) | 89.8% (21) |
| 2018 | 423 (45) | 204.9/5.11 (29) | 218.1/7.48 (76) | 89.7% (16) |
| 2019 | 412 (57) | 190.6/4.8 (36) | 221.3/7.8 (76) | 90.4% (21) |
| 2020 | 430 (37) | 174.3/3.9 (55) | 256/7.5 (40) | 75.7% (107) |
| 2021 | 376 (82) | 107.8/3.2 (118) | 268.5/7.18 (26) | 78.6% (97) |
