Penn State's Hackenberg said the passing game will get better
After three games of the 2014 Penn State football season, quarterback Christian Hackenberg had connected on 62.2 percent of his passes with his 79 completions going for 1,082 yards.
After three games of the 2014 Penn State football season, quarterback Christian Hackenberg had connected on 62.2 percent of his passes with his 79 completions going for 1,082 yards.
At the same point of the 2015 schedule, the statistics in order are 49.3 percent, 35 completions, 372 yards.
The shrinking numbers are a result of head coach James Franklin's emphasis on rushing, particularly over the last two games. This has created an unusual situation for Hackenberg, who has set a number of school passing records over his 28 career games and was touted in the offseason as a first-round draft choice should he come out for the 2016 NFL draft.
Hackenberg is on board with the style of play because it has led to back-to-back wins for the Nittany Lions (2-1) over Buffalo and Rutgers. But he is ready to make the transition if and when the emphasis on passing becomes stronger.
"We're believing in our game plan," Hackenberg said Wednesday in a conference call. "Whatever is asked of us, we're confident in knowing that that's what we've got to do to win."
"Of course, it might vary here coming up soon, but right now we're confident in what we're doing. We're going to work on continuing to build the other aspects to make sure that, when we're asked to throw the ball 50 times, we're going to be ready to do so. When we're asked to run the ball 50 times, we're going to be ready to do so as well."
With the swift emergence of true freshman running back Saquon Barkley, the Nittany Lions are being carried by their rushing attack. Hackenberg has taken relatively few shots downfield with most of his passing yards coming on quick passes and bubble screens.
"The focus obviously is that we've been running the ball really well so we're going to continue to ride that horse," he said. "We've been able to do some things through the passing game to make sure that we get some explosive plays from that as well to keep defenses honest."
After three weeks, Hackenberg is ranked 108th in passing efficiency out of 109 FBS quarterbacks who average 15 pass attempts per game. He has struggled a bit with rainy game conditions the last two weeks and his footwork in Franklin's "quick game" offense, which does not require a lot of movement and sometimes results in bad technique. He said it is something he's working on.
Asked to evaluate his own play, Hackenberg said the Buffalo game in Week 2 "was probably one of the better games I've played."
He wasn't as kind about his play last week against Rutgers.
"I did some things well at times," he said. "Mentally I played really well but physically I was a little too inconsistent for my liking."
Offensive line honors
Penn State's offensive line was named to the Week 3 Joe Moore Award honor roll for its performance in leading the Nittany Lions' ground game to 330 yards in their win over Rutgers. The award honors a unit that displays toughness, effort, teamwork and other attributes. Temple made its honor roll in Week 2.
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