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Reading Eagle, Pa.
Penn State’s successful ground game against Purdue stems from bye week
- Story byReading Eagle, Pa.
- Penn State’s successful ground game against Purdue stems from bye week
Three weeks ago, Penn State football coach Matt Campbell and offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser sounded frustrated with the offense in general and the running game in particular.
The Nittany Lions' struggles continued the following week against Michigan before their bye week. The coaches spent the next two weeks pushing the offensive line to be more physical and searching to find the right combination at running back.
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They were successful.
After averaging 75 rushing yards in its first four Big Ten games, Penn State ran for 269 in its 31-17 victory over Purdue last weekend.
"I would say I was desperate," Mouser said Tuesday. "When you're not winning here and you're not living up to the standard, you feel like you're letting a lot more people down than just the players and the coaches.
"For those guys to go out there and play with that level of physicality, violence and conviction, to be able to see real chemistry and real communication at the line, we looked like a real football team at times in the game."
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It was the second-highest rushing total by Penn State this season, falling short of the 304 yards it had against Buffalo. It also was just the fourth time in the last 15 games against an opponent from a Power Four conference that a Campbell-coached team scored at least 30 points.
Cam Wallace, who was in effect the fourth-team running back, impressed Campbell and Mouser in practice the last two weeks to earn his first career start. He rushed 22 times for 135 yards, both career highs, after getting just 22 carries in the first seven games.
"What you guys saw Saturday was what we saw on the practice field the last two weeks," Campbell said about Wallace. "It was cut and dried. It was easy. When it's not cut and dried, it's really hard to make tough decisions when everybody's competing.
"When you leave it gray, we can make mistakes. When you don't leave it gray, you leave yourself in a great situation and then you capitalize on it."
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Besides Wallace, Carson Hansen ran 17 times for a season-high 96 yards and a touchdown.
"I'm really proud of Cam and Carson and the way those guys ran," Mouser said. "We really challenged the whole running back room. To be able to have somebody draw a line in the sand and say, 'I'm going to be the guy,' those guys did a great job during the bye week and left no doubt.
"When it wasn't perfect, Cam was running at the level that our running backs have to play at from a physicality, attitude and effort standpoint."
Penn State's offensive line played its best game of the season, perhaps not coincidentally against a defense that ranked 97th or worse nationally in every major category. Its performance came after the coaches concentrated on improving the linemen's physicality.
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The last two weeks, they worked on blocking double teams in the running game for 20-minute clips during the period usually set aside for individual drills.
"I wanted them to buy more into the mentality of what it takes to run the ball," Mouser said. "It doesn't necessarily matter what the calls are. Those guys have to be excited and sprint to the line of scrimmage. It's going to be physical. It's going to be violent. It's going to be downhill.
"We had really, really physical bye week practices. It wasn't an off week for our guys. I was probably more proud that we had the ball for 43 minutes than anything else."
Penn State (1-4 Big Ten, 4-4) will face a stronger defense when it meets Washington (2-3, 5-3) Saturday at 3:30 (TV-FS1) in Seattle. The Huskies rank 42nd in scoring defense and 54th in total defense and rushing defense.
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Campbell hopes that simplifying the offense during the bye week will help the Lions have success again this week.
"Sometimes as coaches – and I'm at fault for this as much as anybody – you're trying to over-scheme to put yourself in the best position at the moment," he said. "When you can sit down and digest it all, you say, 'OK, this is what we're best at. Let's make sure we're teaching what we can do best.'
"That really has been the emphasis since the USC game. We had a little more time to attack it during the bye week. We were able to find a little bit better rhythm in terms of how we want to run the football."
