Through two weeks of the season, only five teams across the country have faced fewer rushing attempts than Penn State, as the Nittany Lions went up against pass-happy teams in consecutive games. Predictably, only seven teams across the country have faced more passing attempts than Penn State.
Enter the inevitable trend-breaker in Auburn. The Tigers have rushed the ball 79 times through two games, the 13th-most in the nation, while still managing to average just over 6 yards per carry, a mark that is eighth-best in the nation. So for a Penn State defense that has spent the first eight quarters of the season defending the pass, now it’s time to see what the guys up front can do.
“This is going to be a challenge. No doubt about it,” Penn State coach James Franklin said on Tuesday. “You make a mistake against this crew and it has a chance to cost you. They’ve got guys you watch on tape and obviously guys that can make big, big plays, so we’re going to have to be sound. We’re going to have to make sure that fundamentally we are prepared and executing the way we’re going to need to execute.
“But we’re going to be challenged, by their run game, by their athleticism. We’re going to be challenged by the environment, and that’s why we got to make sure we have a great practice today. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are really important from that standpoint, especially talking about the run game. And put our guys in the best position to be successful come Saturday afternoon.”
Perhaps fortunately, the Nittany Lions are already a bit familiar with Auburn’s primary running back in the rumbling and aptly named Tank Bigsby. The now junior bowled his way to 102 yards and two touchdowns last season in Penn State’s win over the Tigers, while averaging about 4.5 yards per carry in the process. This season Bigsby leads Auburn with 198 yards on the ground over 29 carries at a whopping 6.8 yards per carry clip. Auburn also leans a bit on backup quarterback Robby Ashford in the run game, in addition to running back Jarquez Hunter.
Will Penn State be able to stop all of those options and defend the pass when play actions come around? Time will tell, as Saturday marks the test the Nittany Lions have yet to receive this season. Even more to the point, it’s a test Penn State’s largely unproven group of linebackers and breakout hopeful defensive linemen will need to pass if the Nittany Lions are going to win on Saturday.
“It’s hard to get a true evaluation on that,” Franklin said of how good Penn State’s run defense is or isn’t this year. “You know, obviously when you just talk about disruption plays, like tackles for loss and sacks and things like that, I think going into the year we knew that linebacker — we had questions there in terms of just returning experience. But, again, we have been able to get those guys a ton of reps. They’re getting better every single day. Again, I still am a huge believer that it starts up front with our defensive line in setting the tone, especially when you still have some inexperience behind them. It helps and takes some pressure off.
“Our defensive line, our defensive tackles and our linebacking corps will be tested this week,” Franklin added. “Not just in the run game but also the complementary play-action passes that are going to put those guys in conflict and some of the [run-pass option] stuff as well. That will be reinforced in the team meeting, and that’ll be reinforced in practice all week long, but starting today, which is a hard hat day for us.”
Penn State certainly has the horses up front starting with defensive tackle PJ Mustipher and defensive end Adisa Isaac, both returning from injuries sustained last season. Beyond them, true freshman defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton would do well to live up to early season expectations while Chop Robinson and Nick Tarburton add more experience at the end. Back at linebacker the questions still linger aside from veteran Curtis Jacobs, but the rising stock of Abdul Carter and Kobe King could prove to be just enough to slow down Auburn’s physical ground attack. Fellow linebackers Tyler Elsdon and Dominic DeLuca are not to be forgotten either.
“I feel like this is a game you want to be a part of as a linebacker,” Jacobs said this week. “Being able to come downhill, strike, get those tackles.”
Time will tell if Jacobs and company can do just that against a team far different than the two they’ve already faced this year.
