Football

Reading the Buckeye Leaves: Penn State Week

by Kyle Morgan
Ohio State Football Penn State

This game has the feel of a Bowl game, even a CFB Playoff game, and quite frankly could probably be analyzed for a few more weeks.

This is a matchup of strength-on-strength no matter what phase you study, but let’s take a closer look at some of the key factors heading into the game versus Penn State.

When Ohio State Has the Ball

Penn State will likely play Cover 3 zone where they can float strong safety Marcus Allen down into the box to show an 8-man box to stop the run. Allen is not a major factor in pass defense, but excels in attacking the line of scrimmage.

The lack of consistent split safeties leaves Penn State open to deep throws that attack the seams.

The beauty is that PSU has also shown difficulty against tempo thus far.

The combination of tempo versus a loaded box will surely allow Barrett to take shots downfield.

Even with the middle of the field closed (MOFC) with a free safety, the Buckeyes have shown the ability to adapt the mesh routes and take advantage of the space between the linebackers and deep safety.

Penn State defensive end Shareef Miller is a one-trick pony when it comes to rushing the passer. He will try to win with speed off the edge, primarily against Isaiah Prince. While this will be no easy task for Prince, the Buckeyes can use this to their advantage by running to the vacated lane with delayed runs when showing pass protection.

Pitt was able to break some long runs with this method, so don’t be surprised if the Buckeyes run on third down-and-longer situations, likely with Barrett and especially with the wide alignment the Nittany Lions use on obvious passing downs. Pitt gashed Penn State with the shovel pass repeatedly, so let’s not forget this is Shelley Meyer’s favorite play, a play we have not seen in quite some time from the Buckeyes.

Penn State has shown a susceptibility to bunch formations or plays involving switching routes and has had a fair amount of miscommunication against these formations. Perhaps we see more corner routes from the Buckeyes, primarily Marcus Baugh, similar to that in the Spring Game.

When Penn State Has the Ball

Saquon Barkley is the cog that makes this offense churn and they utilize inside zone to play into Barkley’s vision and ability to read blocks. The Buckeyes will need to avoid the second level blocks to limit the production of Barkley. Iowa had success with stunting defensive linemen and linebackers to muddy-up the targets of the offensive linemen.

This offense focuses on getting Saquon Barkley involved, but not only from the traditional usage of a running back. Penn State does a nice job of working Barkley into the passing game, as well as using him as a decoy to manipulate defenses to open up other targets. Barkley will be moved all over the formation on Saturday, but he is perhaps most deadly as a receiver out of the backfield.

Frequently, he runs a “Choice” route versus a linebacker, but in the clip below, he broke the tendency and burned Pitt for a long touchdown.

Once the threat of Barkley is established, Penn State utilizes RPO’s to work the quick slants to DaeSean Hamilton, Mike Gesicki and Juwan Johnson. The Buckeyes have seen this in practice against their own offense, and were torched with it versus Oklahoma.

Tyquan Lewis mentioned the key to defending the Nittany Lions is by remaining disciplined, but the Buckeye linebackers will need to get hands on Gesicki at the line of scrimmage to disrupt the timing of the play. Gesicki is not a physical guy — you can tell based on his inability to engage in blocking, so the Buckeyes will need to make him uncomfortable any chance they get. This version of the “Pop Pass” is a red zone favorite of the Penn State offense.

Share
Tweet
Share
Pin4
4 Shares

3 Responses

  1. I have said before I appreciate the thoroughness of Kyle’s analysis. This game comes down to 2 straightforward keys from OSU:

    1) The fans are essentially in a “Show me, I’m from Missouri” state of mind due to recent big game results. Units that have been questioned this year- the defensive backs and the wide receivers specifically- need to play like their star ratings coming out of high school. If they do, we are in good shape. This assumes that point 2 occurs…

    2) The offensive play calling MUST be logical and contrary to Coach Meyer’s bizarre obsession with a) making the QB our running back, while largely ignoring other effective players in driving home his obsession. He must also overcome the low percentage “40 yard prayer” pass preference he has shown during these big games, and instead focus on shorter, higher percentage passes. There will be apologists who come to his defense on this issue- and they are wrong. If a RB is ripping off 5 yards per carry and the TE is making catches, he needs to swallow his pride and feed the hot hand rather than disdaining it.

    It should be a great game. If we make PSU beat us, rather than beating ourselves, we will be fine. If not, who knows?

  2. Some good analysis. It will be a real chess match. Iowa played PSU real tough and should have won their game. PSU outsmarted UM with some subtle but simple deceptions like the “wildcat shift” which allowed Barkley to go untouched TWICE for TD’s as the entire defense thought McSorely had the ball. Barkley jumped over and took the snap and he then essentially executed the zone read instead of McSorley. Our biggest challenge is to defend the tall receivers on the pin point passes of McSorley. He throws em high and soft down the sideline where only the receiver can get to them. We just have to keep the pressure on him.

    1. I think we can pressure them. Our defensive line is exceptional and the PSU O-line has given up A LOT of sacks to some really inferior defenses.

      There’s no reason to believe that we won’t take the lead we did last year on the road, and keep it.

      I think we win by 2 TDs.

Comments are closed.