Game Tape Breakdown: Offense vs Iowa 2010
I’m going to try to make this Game Tape Breakdown a weekly feature, a compilation of stats that will hopefully provide further insight into Penn State’s offensive game plan during Big Ten play. But before I dive into it, I want to revisit the surprising reaction following the Iowa game.
I am simply appalled by the hysterical reaction following last Saturday’s game. Somehow losing to an opponent that was favored to begin with on the road under the lights is cause for panic and irrational hysteria even causing some to call for heads to roll. But of the accusation I find the most absurd is the idea that our coaching staff threw in the towel by choosing to punt with 4:40 left in the game still down 14 points.
But upon further review, that is simply not the case and I shall attempt to explain.
Setting up the situation: Penn State is facing a 4th and 6 on their own 46 yard line with 2 timeouts and a still very manageable 2 score game. (Iowa is up 2 scores, 17-3) Although the Hawkeyes have 17 points on the board, their offense has actually been stymied for much of the game. By this point, the average starting position for the Hawkeye offense was on their own 22.5 yard line, fairly even with Penn State’s average starting position of their own 26.5 yard line. But both touchdown drives by Iowa have in fact started on their own 49 and 32 yard lines. That’s a good 26.5 and 9.5 yards further than their average starting field position that have stalled against the Nittany Lions D.
Now back to the down and distance situation. Remember that Penn State is facing a 4th and 6 on their own 46 yard line. Should they fail to convert, the Hawkeyes would take over on the Penn State 46, which would be the best starting position for the Hawkeyes since the start of the game. Considering that Iowa has taken advantage of and converted 2 of their 3 best starting field positions (Own 49, Own 42, Own 32) into touchdowns, it’s easy to see why Joe would prefer to pin the Hawkeyes into their own territory with a punt, rather than risk turning the ball over on downs in Hawkeye territory and a good 31.5 yards closer than their average starting field position where they have struggled to score against the Lions D.But “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Why would Joe Paterno not have the confidence to let the offense try to get a first down? Just take a look at offensive performance thus far. By this point, Robert Bolden has attempted 35 passes in downs that require 6 or more yards, only converting 12 of them. Amounting to a 34% success rate in similar scenarios as the 4th and 6 they are facing now. In fact, of the 35 passing attempts where 6 or more yards are required, 15 ended in incompletions (43%). When the rate of incompletions is higher than the rate of success in situations where Bolden was required to convert 6 yards or more, it doesn’t exactly instill a vote of confidence among the coaching staff.
So as a coaching staff you have a decision to make with just under 5 minutes left, but still armed with 2 time outs. You are just down 2 scores, but failing to convert this 4th and 6 (which Bolden has accomplished just 34% of the time in similar situations by this point) would allow the Hawkeyes to take over the ball on the Penn State 46 and risk a 3rd score. Don’t forget the Hawkeyes had converted 2 of their 3 best starting field positions into touchdowns by the time of this call, and giving the ball up on Penn State’s 46 would be a significant 7 yards closer to the endzone than their last best field position. By electing to punt, Joe Paterno actually provided the Lions a shot to stay in the game with sufficient time and 2 time outs remaining rather than panic and risk a game sealing 3rd score by handing the Hawkeyes a shortened field.
This all became moot when Bolden threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown for the game sealing 3rd score in the Lion’s following possession, but that’s besides the point. To claim that the coaching staff had given up on the game by electing to punt with 4:40 left is simply unsubstantiated. That decision was actually possibly the most logical one the coaching staff could have made based on the situation at hand and actually kept the Lions alive in the game. Was it the right call? Maybe. Was there sound logic behind it? Absolutely.
Now can we tone the angry rhetoric down just a tad?
Now the breakdown of Penn State’s offensive performance against Iowa.
RUN BREAKDOWN
Yards Sequence | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 2 | -3 | -2 | 26 |
Atrocious. Just take a look at the rushing yards sequence for Penn State until they turned the ball over on downs when Bolden couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone in the 3rd quarter (0 / -1 / 0 / 2 / 1 / 0 / -1 / -2 / 3 / 6 / 1 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 0). 6 rushing attempts for no gain, 3 attempts for a loss and none over 6 yards.
Evan Royster | 0 | -1 | 2 | -2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 21 | -3 | 26 |
Rob Bolden | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
Silas Redd | 0 | |||||||||
Justin Brown | -1 | |||||||||
M Zordich | 1 | 0 | ||||||||
Stephfon Green | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
Kevin Newsome | -2 |
It’s not as if Royster is to blame either. 7 different Lions carried the ball and only Royster managed to earn more than 2 yards on the ground. When the 6 other players (Rob Bolden (1), Silas Redd (0), Justin Brown (-1), M Zordich (1), Stephfon Green (2), Kevin Newsome (-2) ) managed a whopping total of 1 rushing yard all game on 10 tries, it’s tough to sell play action.
PASS BREAKDOWN
Pass Yards Sequence
7 | Inc | Inc | -7 | Inc | 14 | Inc | 19 | Inc | Inc | 26 | Inc | Inc | Inc | 17 | 6 | 4 | Inc | 49 | 5 | 11 | Inc |
4 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 5 | Inc | Inc | Inc | 7 | 9 | 10 | -15 | 3 | Inc | Inc | -2 | 6 | INT | 12 | Inc | 23 | Inc |
Penn State’s passing game struggled right out of the gates. 6 of the first 10 passing attempts were incompletions, including 3 straight possessions of 3 and outs.
Derek Moye | Inc | 6 | 4 | 7 | 10 | Inc | |
Joe Suhey | 7 | ||||||
Stephfon Green | 17 | 4 | Inc | ||||
Justin Brown | Inc | 18 | 9 | 9 | 6 | ||
Kevin Haplea | Inc | Inc | Inc | 23 | |||
Graham Zug | Inc | Inc | Inc | Inc | |||
Evan Royster | 5 | 3 | |||||
Rob Bolden | -7 | -15 | INT | ||||
Gary Gilliam | Inc | ||||||
Brett Brackett | 14 | 49 | Inc | Inc | |||
Silas Redd | 19 | -2 | |||||
Moseby-Felder | Inc | ||||||
Devon Smith | Inc | 26 | 5 | 11 | 4 | Inc | 12 |
Chaz Powell | Inc |
A little better than the running game, but not by much. When Iowa is selling out against the run and wants Bolden to beat them, dropped passes is simply not acceptable. Yea, I’m looking at you Graham Zug!
Field Position | Down | Distance | Play Type | Yards | Player |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSU 35 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 7 | Joe Suhey |
PSU 35 | 2 | 3 | Pass | Incomplete | Justin Brown |
PSU 42 | 3 | 3 | Run | 0 | Evan Royster |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 17 | 1 | 10 | Run | -1 | Evan Royster |
PSU 16 | 2 | 11 | Run | 0 | Rob Bolden |
PSU 16 | 3 | 11 | Pass | Incomplete | Graham Zug |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 26 | 1 | 10 | Run | 2 | Evan Royster |
PSU 26 | 2 | 8 | Pass | Sacked -7 | Rob Bolden |
PSU 21 | 3 | 15 | Pass | Incomplete | Gary Gilliam |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 14 | 1 | 10 | Run | 1 | Rob Bolden |
PSU 15 | 2 | 9 | Pass | 14 | Brett Brackett |
PSU 29 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Gary Gilliam |
PSU 29 | 2 | 10 | Pass | 19 | Silas Redd |
PSU 48 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Graham Zug |
PSU 48 | 2 | 10 | Run | 0 | Silas Redd |
PSU 48 | 3 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Devon Smith |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 33 | 1 | 10 | Run | -1 | Justin Brown |
PSU 32 | 2 | 11 | Pass | 26 | Devon Smith |
Iowa 42 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Chaz Powell |
Iowa 42 | 2 | 10 | Run | -2 | Evan Royster |
Iowa 44 | 3 | 12 | Pass | Incomplete | Graham Zug |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 17 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Derek Moye |
PSU 17 | 2 | 10 | Pass | 17 | Stephfon Green |
PSU 34 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 6 (PEN -10) | Derek Moye |
PSU 30 | 2 | 14 | Pass | 4 (PEN +10) | Stephfon Green |
PSU 49 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Kevin Haplea |
PSU 49 | 2 | 10 | Pass | 49 | Brett Brackett |
IOWA 2 | 1 | 2 | Pass | Down Ball (PEN -5) | |
25 YARD FIELD GOAL — END OF HALF | |||||
PSU 29 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 5 | Devon Smith |
PSU 34 | 2 | 5 | Run | 3 | Evan Royster |
PSU 37 | 3 | 2 | Pass | 11 | Devon Smith |
PSU 48 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Moseby-Felder |
PSU 48 | 2 | 10 | Run | 6 | Evan Royster |
IOWA 46 | 3 | 4 | Pass | 4 | Derek Moye |
IOWA 42 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 4 | Devon Smith |
IOWA 38 | 2 | 6 | Pass | 18 | Justin Brown |
IOWA 20 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 9 | Justin Brown |
IOWA 11 | 2 | 1 | Run | 1 | M Zordich |
IOWA 10 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 5 | Evan Royster |
IOWA 5 | 2 | 5 | Run | 4 | Evan Royster |
IOWA 1 | 3 | 1 | Run | 0 | M Zordich |
IOWA 1 | 4 | 1 | Run | 0 | Rob Bolden |
TURNOVER ON DOWNS | |||||
PSU 30 | 1 | 10 | Run | 21 | Evan Royster |
IOWA 49 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Devon Smith |
IOWA 49 | 2 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Kevin Haplea |
IOWA 49 | 3 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Stephfon Green |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 49 | 1 | 10 | Run | 0 | Stephfon Green |
PSU 49 | 2 | 10 | Pass | 7 | Derek Moye |
IOWA 44 | 3 | 3 | Run | 2 (PEN -5) | Stephfon Green |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 7 | 1 | 10 | Run | -3 | Evan Royster |
PSU 4 | 2 | 13 | Pass | 9 | Justin Brown |
PSU 13 | 3 | 4 | Pass | 10 | Derek Moye |
PSU 23 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Sacked -15 | Rob Bolden |
PSU 8 | 2 | 25 | Pass | 3 | Evan Royster |
PSU 11 | 3 | 22 | Pass | Incomplete | Brett Brackett |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 42 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Derek Moye |
PSU 42 | 2 | 10 | Pass | -2 | Silas Redd |
PSU 40 | 3 | 12 | Pass | 6 | Justin Brown |
PUNT | |||||
PSU 16 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Interception -33 | Rob Bolden |
DRIVE ENDS ON INTERCEPTION | |||||
PSU 29 | 1 | 10 | Run | -2 | Kevin Newsome |
PSU 27 | 2 | 12 | Run | 26 | Evan Royster |
IOWA 47 | 1 | 10 | Pass | 12 | Devon Smith |
IOWA 35 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Kevin Haplea |
IOWA 35 | 2 | 10 | Pass | 23 | Kevin Haplea |
IOWA 12 | 1 | 10 | Pass | Incomplete | Brett Brackett |
END OF GAME |