How much has Penn State's offense improved under first-year coordinator Joe Moorhead?

Well, the Nittany Lions are averaging 33.6 points per game, which ranks third in the Big Ten. And that is after already facing two of the three best scoring defenses in the conference — Michigan and Ohio State. http://www.scout.com/college/penn-state/story/1719381-psu-fans-now-get-si-with-an-fos-annual-sub

In 2015, Penn State ranked 11th in the B1G in scoring offense at 23.2 ppg. In 2014, the Lions were last in the conference at 20.6 ppg.

Among Penn State's final four regular season opponents, three ranks in the bottom half of the league in scoring defense. So there is a good chance this year's Nittany Lion offense will creep into the program's all-time top 10 when it comes to points per game. Sitting at No. 10 right now is the 2002 team, which averaged 34.3 points per outing.

And yet Moorhead is the first to admit there are several areas where this year's offense can get even better. State ranks last in the Big Ten in third-down conversions (25.3 percent — though in fairness, a bevy of explosive plays have limited PSU to a league-low 95 third-down attempts). Meanwhile, as effective as QB Trace McSorley has been, he is completing only 55 percent of his passes, about 10 percent below what Moorhead would like to see.

Moorhead held a conference call with Penn State beat writers Thursday and was extremely candid about the many positives and handful of negatives for his offense this season. He also addressed his own development as a coordinator, the play of McSorley and the rest of the PSU QBs, an interesting pregame routine, operating exclusively out of the shotgun and much more.

Oh yeah, and he explained exactly why the Lions even use the shotgun in victory formation.

Give it a listen below.

Listen to "PSU OC Joe Moorhead's Media Conference Call" on Spreaker.

Go to the following times of the podcast to hear Moorhead discuss:

00:10: The performance of the offense and his first season at Penn State. 01:00: The offense's halftime routine. 02:00: Being better in the second half than the first. 03:27: The adjustment period while installing a new offense. 05:30: QB Trace McSorley. 06:55: McSorley and ball security. 08:00: Being back as an assistant coach after serving as head coach at Fordham. 09:35: RB Saquon Barkley. 10:40: The improvement of offense over the last four games. 12:00: The goal line to goal line walk he does with the QBs before each game. 13:30: The tempo of the offense and time of possession. 15:15: OT Brendan Mahon. 16:28: OL coach Matt Limegrover 17:45: Explosive plays. 18:30: How his offensive approach has changed over the years. 20:00: Backup QBs Jake Zembiec and Tommy Stevens. 21:00: Communicating with DC Brent Pry. 22:10: His approach of never having the QB go under center. 22:40: Third-down offense. 24:00: The philosophy of operating exclusively out of the shotgun and why he even uses the shotgun in victory formation.

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