Penn State needs to balance its offense

STATE COLLEGE - James Franklin, in his short time at Penn State, has formed a few habits, including asking the identity of the next opponent after games.

In his postgame news conference after beating Rutgers, Franklin had this to say: "We will wake up tomorrow morning . . . clean up the Rutgers game, and get started on - who do we play next week?"

Someone in the room told him it was UMass.

"Then we'll get started on UMass, because that's who they tell us we'll be playing against next week," Franklin said.

A college football coach at a major program not knowing the schedule is hard to believe. But whether or not the coach has a schedule magnet on his refrigerator doesn't really matter. Franklin is posing the wrong question.

He shouldn't be wondering who's next. Instead, he should be asking which Penn State team will come to play.

Entering the bye week at a normally encouraging 4-1, this Penn State team is in college football limbo. No one really knows what to make of it.

With night games at Michigan and home against Ohio State, followed by a tricky finish, the Nittany Lions could be looking at an impressive 9-3 finish and cushy bowl game. Or, they could be scraping by to get bowl-eligible.

There are only a couple games in which you can say, "Penn State should win" without a "but . . . " following.

The problems are clear, and it hasn't been defense. Even after Saturday's 29-6 loss to Northwestern, the unit ranks second nationally against the run on a per-game basis and 12th in scoring defense. On the Wildcats' three touchdown drives, their average starting field position was at Penn State's 40-yard line. The defense had a number of weak arm tackles Saturday, but that's a tough spot to be in.

So far, the problems primarily have been caused by the offense, both with the players and play-calling.

Let's compare Penn State's season opener against Central Florida with the Northwestern debacle. Not only were the games played on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but the performances also felt miles apart.

On the stat sheet, it appears there were some similarities. Against the Knights, the Lions ran for 57 yards on 28 carries; on 25 carries, they totaled 50 yards against the Northwestern defense.

But one performance facilitated 511 yards of offense and the other only 266. Guess which one.

In Ireland, Penn State offensive coordinator John Donovan mixed the run with the pass; even when handing it off to Bill Belton or Zach Zwinak yielded only a yard or two, it kept the Central Florida defense honest.

That made things easier on an inexperienced, now-exposed offensive line and, obviously, quarterback Christian Hackenberg. The sophomore threw for a school-record 454 passing yards and completed 68 percent of his passes.

That wasn't the case against Northwestern.

Hackenberg threw 45 times against the Wildcats, but connected on only 22 passes, averaged 4.8 yards per attempt and was sacked four times. Of course, it isn't easy when the defense knows you're going to pass time after time. In a span stretching from the second quarter to the third, Penn State ran 24 consecutive plays without a handoff to one of its backs. Hackenberg was forced to run three times and threw 21 passes.

Penn State's play-callers ignored the run, so Northwestern - a team that surrendered 140 rushing yards per game on average in its first three games - could, thankfully, do the same.

You won't win many football games that way.

So where does that leave the offense moving forward?

After such a dysfunctional game and fluctuating start to the season, Hackenberg and Franklin both expressed happiness with the timing of the bye week and said they were excited about repairing the broken ship.

"There's no one that wants to get it fixed more than [the players] do and more than we do as coaches," Franklin said.

The coaches can start by balancing the offensive play-calling and seeing whether that works.

But Franklin should have a better idea about how to get this team to gel for the final seven games. And it starts with asking - and answering - the right questions.