IOWA CITY, Iowa – James Franklin has often said that if he wanted the truth inside the Penn State football program, he knew Terry Smith would give it to him.
That didn’t change after the Nittany Lions’ 25-24 loss to Iowa Saturday night, Smith’s first game as interim head coach.
He didn’t pull any punches when he made his first comments immediately afterwards, detailing the problems on offense first.
“We continue to not be able to throw the ball down the field or even throw the ball in the intermediate zone,” Smith said. “We have to get that fixed.
“It’s tough when the secondary is sitting on your intermediate (routes). There’s no separation. Every throw has to be in a tight window. We have to be able to push the ball down the field.”
Ethan Grunkemeyer found out what Drew Allar had been dealing with for the last 2.5 seasons.
In his first college start as the injured Allar’s replacement, Grunkemeyer couldn’t complete a pass longer than 14 yards, and that was to freshman Koby Howard.
Penn State brought in Kyron Hudson, Trebor Pena and Devonte Ross from the transfer portal to fix the wide receiver position. They’ve had their moments, but overall their presence has been a bust.
The paucity of chunk plays in the passing game allows defensive backs to play closer to the line of scrimmage, contain the running game and jump the shorter routes.
Grunkemeyer completed 15-of-28 passes for a measly 93 yards, which is 3.3 yards per attempt. Teams are usually not successful with such feeble production.
Without the injured Vega Ioane, Penn State’s offensive line played effectively against Iowa’s strong front and opened many holes for Kaytron Allen, who ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, the Lions defense played poorly for the third straight week. UCLA gained 285 total yards in the first half; Northwestern drove 75 yards to score the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter; and Iowa rushed for 245 yards, including 130 by quarterback Mark Growowski, not exactly someone with blazing speed.
Penn State was universally praised when it lured Jim Knowles away from Ohio State and made him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the country. The results so far have been underwhelming.
Even though the Lions held high-powered Oregon to 17 points in regulation, they allowed the Ducks to score twice in overtime, the second one on a blown coverage.
“Defensively, we can’t get stops when we need stops,” Smith said. “It’s glaring. I have to get it fixed. We’re going to take the bye week and try to get those areas cleaned up and better.”
For the first time since opening the 2020 pandemic season 0-5, Penn State has dropped four straight. The four losses have been by a combined 13 points, the last two by one apiece.
Smith was encouraged that the team played hard against Iowa, but it also blew an 11-point lead in the second half.
“Coach Terry did a great job lifting us up, bringing us together and bringing the swagger,” Allen said. “He’s going to be a great head coach one day. He lifted us up, told us to keep going. That’s what he did. We tried to play for him and for Coach Franklin.”
The Lions have lost their head coach. Players, coaches and staff members are living under a cloud of uncertainty, wondering whether they’ll be in State College next year.
What’s next on the schedule? A trip to undefeated Ohio State, which has beaten Penn State eight straight times.
“I’m going to go out there and give 100%,” defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam said. “I’m going to play for my brothers. Because for all those times during summer workouts when everybody was dying together, it would be wrong for somebody to give up because of a couple losses.
“We’ve still got a season to salvage, in my opinion. Everybody has dreams of making the NFL, so we can’t just throw these last couple games in the trash.”
Source: Berkshire mont