Every week in the Penn State defense’s meeting room inside Lasch Building, first-year D-coordinator Manny Diaz shows a tape of what the Man Who Invented the Turnover Chain calls havoc plays.
The stuff that really terrifies offenses: interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries. It’s the kind of horror film that his turnover-hungry defenders love to watch.
“He shows a turnover tape each week. It’s more like a havoc tape,” said Penn State linebacker Curtis Jacobs, whose fumble recovery of a muffed punt catch by Central Michigan set up an easy third-quarter touchdown by the Nittany Lion offense.
“We see plays where the other team has gotten the ball loose or they’re running with the ball loose or someone is getting tackled in the backfield or getting sacked. Being able to see that and envisioning yourself making those plays is incredibly important. It’s cool.”
Jacobs’ recovery of CMU returner Jordyn Williams’s drop came on the Chippewas’ 7-yard line, and two plays later Penn State scored to extend its lead to 27-14 on Saturday in Beaver Stadium, when it had still been a one-score game.
“Obviously it’s a big play,” Jacobs said. “I was just ready in that moment to make a play. It was great execution all around and if Malick (Meiga) doesn’t push the ball out from the guy, I don’t think I could have gotten it. It’s just the all-around combination of us both.”
It was one of two CMU fumble recoveries made by the Nittany Lions (Kalen King had the other) as Penn State also had a pair of picks – by Zakee Wheatley and Johnny Dixon.
Two of the takeaways led to PSU touchdowns, nearly the difference in a closer-than-it-seemed 33-14 win before an announced attendance of 106,624 in Beaver Stadium, and two set up field goal attempts by Penn State, both of which failed.
Those four give Penn State eight turnovers in two weeks — they had four last week at Auburn — and nine for the season. The Nittany Lions had 21 turnovers in 2021; at this rate they are on pace for nearly 30 take-aways. (Miami, Fla., with Diaz as head coach, had just 11 turnovers all of last season.)
Last season notwithstanding, takeaways are Manny’s milieu when it comes to defense. Diaz, invented the turnover chain at Miami while he was the coordinator there, before he became head coach. The Hurricanes led the nation in 2017 with 31 turnovers.
“We talk about turnovers all the time,” King said. “In practice, any missed opportunity like a dropped pick we get on each other. We stress over turnovers. We gotta make those. Everyone on defense knows that turnovers are big for us.”
Why? “Turnovers change the game,” King said. “They give us momentum.”
ON THE OFFENSIVE
They also shorten the field. On Saturday, Penn State’s offense had to go just 7 yards for its TD after Jacob’s recovery, and after a pick with a 34-yard return by Wheatley in the first quarter, the Nittany Lions only had to go 15 yards (in three plays) for their second score of the game.
For their part, veteran quarterback Sean Clifford and the Penn State offense have turned the ball over just once through four games and a 4-0 record in 2022. That came at Purdue, in the most inopportune moment, when Clifford threw a pick-six against the Boilermakers midway through the fourth quarter that put Purdue up 31-28.
“To me, taking care of the ball is football right there,” Wheatley said. “That’s the offense doing their job and not giving the ball back, and then they’re taking possession when we get them the ball.”
Wheatley did his part in that regard at Purdue, when he forced a fumble as the Boilermakers were driving for a score in the first half. It’s well-known that Wheatley was Penn State’s takeaway king of both spring practice and summer drills in 2022, leading the defense in takeaways in both sets of practices.
“Wheatley is a ballhawk, man,” King said. “He’s been showing us that since camp. The safety room is stacked. Jaylen Reed, Ji’Ayir Brown — all those guys are play-makers.”
Wheatley is tight-lipped when it comes to sharing how he finds the ball. And vice versa.
“I don’t have any tricks of the trade,” he said. “I just go there and have fun. And just keep working.”
