Penn State’s biggest issue in its first two Big Ten losses has been hiding in plain sight: third down, and the wasted chances that come with it.
The Nittany Lions have converted just 12 of 32 third-down tries in defeats to Wisconsin and Northwestern, a 37.5 percent clip that has left too many drives stuck in neutral. They went 7 for 18 in a 24-20 loss to the Badgers and followed that with a 5-for-14 showing in a 34-13 loss to Northwestern last Friday in Evanston.
That kind of inefficiency is a problem Penn State (3-2, 0-2) can’t afford to carry into Saturday night’s Big Ten matchup with No. 18 USC at Beaver Stadium. The Trojans (5-1, 2-1) are putting up 37.3 points per game, and the Lions are going to need more than empty possessions if they want to keep pace.
What has stood out over the last two games is that Penn State has not just failed to convert - it has also produced third-down completions that went nowhere. Three times, the Lions completed passes on third down without picking up a first down.
Against Wisconsin, that happened early in the fourth quarter when quarterback Rocco Becht hit Chase Sowell for four yards on third and five from the Penn State 34. The drive ended with a punt from the 38.
The same issue surfaced twice against Northwestern. Late in the first quarter, with Penn State trailing 10-0 and facing third and six from its 40, Becht connected with Brett Eskildsen for four yards, and the Lions punted from their 44.
Then, midway through the second quarter with Penn State down 24-7, Becht found Andrew Rappleyea for three yards on third and six from the Penn State 24. That series, too, ended in a punt.
Asked Tuesday about those third-down completions that didn’t move the chains, head coach Matt Campbell pointed to both execution and awareness.
“Yeah, we talked about that a lot on Sunday,” Campbell said.
“One of them probably was a catch-and-run opportunity with what we were thinking we were going to get and we didn’t execute it.”
“The other one, we’ve got to be at the sticks, and our detail wasn’t where we needed it to be,” Campbell continued.
“It’s a growth process from our end of it. .. Player-wise, we have to have awareness of where the (first-down) sticks are, and the second one was a situation where we were in a catch-and-run opportunity, and we just didn’t get to where we needed to be.”
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