Working a tight rotation, new Penn State OC Mike Yurcich finds enough answers to survive opener

Before we pick apart one of the worst offensive first halves in Penn State history and what, if anything, it says about new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, some perspective:

• Yurcich’s halftime adjustments produced the points needed for the No. 19 Nittany Lions to eke out their 16-10 victory over No. 12 Wisconsin at a rocking Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
• Offensive coordinators, new or otherwise, rarely have to face a ranked conference opponent on the road to start a season. Prior to last year’s Covid-altered season, Penn State opened against Kent State, Akron, App State and Idaho from 2016-19. Joe Moorhead and Ricky Rahne had an opportunity in those seasons to work out the kinks. Yurcich had no such luxury.
• Other games from Saturday show that matchups of ranked teams in Week 1 trend toward struggles on offense. In No. 5 Georgia’s 10-3 victory over No. 3 Clemson in primetime, neither team scored on offense in the first half. The first offensive points came late in the third quarter, when the Bulldogs added a FG to their first-half pick-six to take a 10-0 lead. The game went the full 60 minutes without an offensive touchdown. … In the B1G, No. 17 Indiana and prolific QB Michael Penix Jr. managed just 2 FGs and surrendered 2 pick-sixes against No. 18 Iowa’s stout defense. … And Wisconsin, playing against PSU’s collection of defensive playmakers, managed only 10 points on 95 plays as highly-touted QB Graham Mertz turned the ball over 3 times.

So, maybe Penn State’s 43-yard first half, ugly as it was, will turn out to be just a blip on the radar. If Sean Clifford keeps the offense rolling like it was in Saturday’s second half, fans will forget the 3-and-outs on 5 of the first 6 drives of the Yurcich era.

What changed after halftime? Yurcich, realizing the Badgers were selling out to stop the run and Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard was daring the Lions to beat his charges over the top, accepted the challenge. PSU went pass-heavy, and Clifford connected on enough deep balls to make the difference.

On Penn State’s first drive of the second half, Clifford went 4-for4, softening up the defense with 3 straight short connections before hitting Jahan Dotson running free behind a badly beaten Wisconsin secondary for a 49-yard touchdown.

“Once we got Jahan involved, everything opened up from there, ” head coach James Franklin said during postgame interviews. “He won multiple times. (We) coulda hit him 2 or 3 more times. We’ll get those things cleaned up. … Coach Leonhard goes a great job. They’re top 5 in defense really the last couple years. There’ll be a lot of stuff to learn off this tape, and we’ll build on it next week.”

Clifford did indeed miss some open receivers deep, but in the second half he went 11-for-19 for 206 yards. In the ugly first half, he went 7-for-14 for 41 yards. His most reassuring stat, though, was zero turnovers. By sundown Saturday, Mertz and Penix had both coughed up the ball 3 times each — 5 INTs and Mertz’s lost fumble. In last year’s 0-5 PSU start, Clifford played those type of games. But not this time.

Clifford, the self-professed most confident QB in the country, and Yurcich can built on this game. A win is a win, after all. And they’ll need to do so, because the Lions won’t likely survive another half like 2021’s first one.

How bad was that first half?

• Parker Washington caught a 24-yard pass for PSU’s lone first down. Penn State’s other 21 offensive plays produced 19 yards.
• Noah Cain, who would deliver several huge effort plays in the second half, led the ground “attack” with 3 yards on 2 carries. Because of lost yards on his lone first-half reception, he had zero total yards at the break.
• Clifford, who in the past has often augmented the running game with effective QB carries, lost 3 yards on 3 carries.
• The tight ends, hyped by Franklin in the preseason, didn’t catch a single ball, in either half.
• The offensive line couldn’t create holes, especially up the middle.

Yurcich adjusted his scheme and stuck with his primary playmakers — Clifford, Dotson and Cain.

Cain, playing for the first time since the opening drive of last season, proved healthy in his return from injury — and also tough as ever. He finished with 48 yards on 8 carries and another 27 yards on 5 receptions. His 34-yard run started a drive to a tying field goal in the fourth quarter, and his 2-yard burrow into the end zone finished the next PSU drive and the scoring. All told, Cain had 42 rushing yards and 29 receiving yards on those final 2 PSU scoring drives. Noah Cain finished strong.

Dotson finished with 102 receiving yards, with 91 of those coming on 2 catches in the second half.

Yurcich’s rotation was tight. Behind Cain, Keyvone Lee and Devyn Ford combined for 4 carries — only 1 of them in the second half — that netted minus-3 yards. Dotson and Cain each caught 5 passes; Washington and KeAndre Lambert-Smith each caught 4.

Jaquan Brisker, one of the defensive heroes for the Lions, liked the approach.

“I told Jahan he’s the best receiver in the country, I told Sean he’s the best quarterback in the country, and I told Noah Cain just go be Noah Cain,” Brisker said. “And you saw the result.”

The result was just enough points to beat Wisconsin, and something to build on as Penn State enters a stretch of 4 straight home games.

Odds are, the offense will put on a more entertaining show in front of 100,000-plus at Beaver Stadium next Saturday against Ball State.

Yurcich’s glass is half full, right?

Luke Glusco

Luke Glusco is a Penn State graduate and veteran journalist. He covers Penn State and occasionally writes about other Big Ten programs and topics. He also serves as the primary copy editor for Saturday Tradition.