Joe Moorhead was hired as Penn State’s new offensive coordinator on December 12. Moorhead went 38 and 13 as the head coach for Fordham in his four years there. He was also an assistant at Akron where he had a huge impact improving the offense, which ultimately led to his hiring at UConn before taking over at Fordham, his alma mater.

His reputation is that he’s an offensive guru who runs a very fast, up-tempo offense that scores lots of points, much like that of former Oregon coach Chip Kelly. Moorhead has set many records for yards and points at Fordham, which has many Penn State fans excited.

The common opponent between Penn State and Fordham this season was Army. Penn State won but put up just 20 points. Fordham, with FCS level talent, scored 37 with Moorhead calling the plays. This certainly bodes well for Penn State and they should hope to see noticeable improvement on offense.

A hot topic among Penn State fans this year is whether or not Christian Hackenberg will stay for his senior year or enter the NFL Draft. Hackenberg is best described as being a pocket passer, and a pro-style quarterback. This could clash with Moorhead, as he likes to run the spread offense, and while effective, is not best for Christian. The style difference could drive Hackenberg to declare for the NFL Draft if he hasn’t decided already.

On the other hand, Moorhead’s offense at Fordham has put up incredible stats including being ranked in the top-20 of all FCS offenses. In 2015 Fordham averaged 272.3 passing YPG and averaged 36.8 points per game. If Hackenberg were to stay, putting numbers like these up on a weekly basis would propel him up the draft rankings, leading to an earlier selection after his senior year. Whatever the outcome, whoever is quarterbacking the Nittany Lions next year should be putting up solid numbers on the stat sheet.

The biggest surprise for the Nittany Lions this year was the emergence of running back Saquon Barkley. The star freshman broke the Penn State freshman rushing record with 1,007 yards on the year and was named a Freshman All-American by USA Today.

Moorhead’s main philosophy is to get the ball to his playmakers in space, so that they can make people miss in the open field. Saquon has shown the ability to make defenders miss better than anybody at Penn State in recent memory.

Fordham’s running back Chase Edmonds rushed for 3,486 yards and 43 touchdowns over the past two years. Those numbers should excite Barkley and could lead him to go down as one of Penn State’s all-time great running backs.

This Penn State offense is poised for success with Moorhead at the helm and should be putting up lots of points. This is an exciting time for the Lions, tough I would not expect Moorhead’s style of offense to be noticeable in the bowl game, as he will likely need a full offseason to implement it.