Andrew Callahan

andrewcallahan@ldnews.com

After 246 days, weeks of practice reports and one public scrimmage purposed as much for tailgating as it was tackling, naturally you wanted some answers.

But would you have settled for just football instead?

For watching a 260-pound kicker rumble downfield to deliver a hit so vicious it rattled body and soul? A tackle matched in its impressiveness only by the ensuing staredown from a terrific power stance?

I thought you might.

The single greatest highlight from Penn State's 33-13 season-opening win had little impact on an outcome that later arrived just as expected (the spread was Penn State -21.5). But Julius' hit was nonetheless powerful, attention-seizing and, obviously, unscripted. And in a game that was devised partly like a scrimmage, given the Lions' substitutions were motivated equally by development and fatigue, his big blow was as much a breath of fresh air as it was literally breathtaking.

Yet had Penn State wanted to win by more touchdowns, as certain Big 10 brethren did, it would have. This game just kept one eye on the scoreboard and another on the future, and that's OK. It simply limits our ability now to extract those sought-after answers from Saturday about what's to come.

That vision, though, is about to narrow and quickly.

Key battles against Pitt and Temple loom, kickoffs that undoubtedly will carry recruiting ripple effects into that future. In turn, we shouldn't often see the Lions rotate through 10 defensive linemen on a single drive anymore as they did Saturday. They'll deploy their best players and then keep them fresh as need be.

In fairness, Penn State's staff was seeking answers Saturday, too. Like, who are their best players suited to see snaps at defensive line, third cornerback and offensive guard? To find out what they learned, well, that's why we're here.

So for those of you late to the Tale of the Tape party, now raging into its second season, a brief overview.

This series is not a place for what you've read before. Leave your clichés and tired report card evaluations at the door.

We are here every week for the true nuts and bolts of football; to elevate the conversation on scheme, personnel and technique; to discover all the hows and whys of last Saturday you deserve.

Doing so requires a thorough breakdown of every play from the previous game, the fruits of which are below.

So dig in. There's a lot to get to.

3 Defensive Takeaways

1. Aggressive debut for Brent Pry

And you thought Bob Shoop had taken all of that blitzing with him to Tennessee.

In his Happy Valley coordinating debut, Brent Pry rushed at least five men on nearly 40 percent of all defensive snaps and held Kent State without a touchdown. The Lions blitzed primarily via zone pressures, which sported some new twists.

There were some old friends, too, like the Field Scrape Fire Zone popping up on the Lions' very first play.

The most common back-seven pressure came from the boundary cornerback spot, as detailed below.

And there were some overload elements dialed up in both halves.

This isn't to say Pry turned his bag of tricks upside down and uncorked all its contents during one game. The heavy dose of pressure was undoubtedly tied to Kent State's lack of outside weapons, who failed to score a touchdown all day. And again, a significant amount of these blitzes were familiar.

In the long run, Pry's aggressiveness to me is a positive sign. Following a summer in which I perhaps wrongfully assumed he would be less willing to roll the dice a la Shoop, it looks like Penn State will persistently pressure when the opponent can't take it.

Speaking of differences between the coaches, Pry called a higher ratio of single-high coverages compared to last season, namely Cover 3 and 1. Personally, I think the switch, if permanent, may benefit the players, considering the learning curve then between their base defenses and blitzes, which have similar structures, would now be less.

2. Not a lack of D-line depth, but discipline

Sacks are great. Sacks are fun.

You can count them quickly, and watch how they crush an offense just as fast.

But they are also perhaps the most overrated stat in football.

Defensive line production is far better measured in terms of total disruption than a sack total. After all, hurries, pressures and quarterback hits count, too. They're just harder to discern.

For a run-game example, watch Kevin Givens blow up Kent State's opening third down.

Despite being chiefly responsible for destroying that play, Givens doesn't receive any official credit in the stat sheet. No tackle, TFL, sack ... nothing.

But when his position coach breaks down that film, Givens will rightfully receive a positive grade because he caused disruption. And had the redshirt freshman been washed out or blocked cleanly, he would've deservedly had points taken off.

Relatedly, sacks don't outshine an otherwise potentially down day. Shareef Miller, already the proud owner of 1.5 sacks this season, gave up first downs just like he helped force a third-and-long and one punt. If you're concerned solely with quarterback takedowns, he played extraordinarily well.

Yet when you consider all the roles and responsibilities of defensive line play, Miller comes down to earth a bit.

That distinction is important because the Golden Flashes racked up significant rushing yards via scrambles that capitalized on this lack of discipline. Scrambling will happen when facing athletic quarterbacks, particularly inexperienced ones more prone to jetting from the pocket. But Penn State could have severely cut down on that number by maintaining rush lane integrity, essentially meaning a more controlled pass rush.

A quality team pass rush means suffocating a pocket rather than cutting through it and leaving an escape route in your wake. From a physical standpoint, there seems to be an ample number of pass rushers for the Lions to work with. Thus, it now boils down to technique.

Some defensive staffs stress rush lane integrity more than others, though there's no denying this group would have benefited from stronger discipline. If you thought their seven sacks were impressive, even more were to be had.

3. Cornerback depth flashes potential

Most bold predictions, in my mind, are a bit contrived, but allow me to offer this: John Reid will move to full-time nickelback duties for a couple games before season's end.

Whether it's Christian Campbell or Amani Oruwariye sliding into his outside spot is too early to tell. Nonetheless, the Lions showed faith in each of them, and that faith was undoubtedly rewarded. They both covered, tackled surely and impressed, albeit against a weaker crop of Kent State wideouts.

However, should Pry keep his single-high base coverages, he'll require longer, physical corners on the outside. On the other hand Reid, at 5-foot-9, is the one Lion truly equipped to handle quicker slot receivers while still providing quality run support and blitzing. Penn State will remain in its base 4-3 on early downs, even against three or four wideouts, but when the blue and white face true spread teams, Reid as a starting nickelback might be their best bet.

He moved inside every time the Lions went to three cornerbacks against the Golden Flashes.

Lastly, let's talk about the Oruwariye interception.

Penn State appeared to be in some form of Cover 1, perhaps with some pattern-matching structure behind it. It's tough to definitively say without an all-22 look. Nonetheless, the throw was poor and Oruwariye, trailing his man, took full advantage of the wobbly gift.

Nice job.

3 Offensive Takeaways

1. Trace McSorley better than his stats show

All in all, a good afternoon.

The most glaring, but understandable, omission from McSorley's stat line (16-for-31, 209 yards and two TDs) was his steadfast decision-making, the ultimate fuel of the Lions' RPO-rooted offense. And akin to most stat summaries, the redshirt sophomore's was overly affected by one or a collection of key plays, both good and bad.

First came the bevy of deep shots, a good tactic given the Golden Flashes' proclivity for single-high, press coverage. Those largely didn't connect thanks to minor execution miscues. And then there was the rare, busted Kent State coverage, which gifted an easy touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki late in the fourth.

Ultimately, the significance of that score is probably saving us all from unnecessary mid-week discussion about whether McSorley can handle the job, because before then, as mentioned, his decision-making and poise proved steady, his feet fleet and arm strength and accuracy sufficient. And demonstrating those traits in game action is what's most imperative.

Listing those last two qualities is reasonably going to engender some debate. Of the 10 passes McSorley fired longer than 20 yards, he connected on only three of them and roughly the same number were slightly underthrown.

But not by much.

In fact, I'd lay the lack of deep ball success at the feet of two other factors: Kent State's defensive backs and the inability of Lion wideouts to win jump balls.

Golden Flash opponents connected on a timid 54 percent of all passes last season, the 18th best mark of any defense in the nation. Much of that secondary returned and applied sticky man-to-man coverage against Chris Godwin and Co. Down the road, Godwin should snag at least one of these.

Personally, I cannot disparage a quarterback making his starting debut for those throws, made both against pressure and two-man coverage (a pair of deep safeties with man-to-man underneath). McSorley wasn't spectacular, but he didn't need to be, and there's enough to work with here moving forward.

You can find his complete passing chart and pressure breakdowns further down.

2. Saquon Barkley gets an A+ for protection

Now if you want to talk spectacular, this is your guy.

The human GIF generator played all but three of Penn State's 69 snaps, the true sign of an every-down back. Beyond his special running abilities, Barkley's blitz pick-up will allow him to stay on the field at all times in Joe Moorhead's one-back attack. And that's good news for everyone in blue and white.

Kent State did not dial up much that even bordered exotic, yet there was Barkley, every time equal to the challenge of an incoming blitzer or passing lineman.

The Golden Flashes sent an extra rusher 14 times, yet never sacked McSorley. For more reasons than one, the quarterback owes his backfield mate a dinner or two.

Now as boring as a topic like blitz pick-up resonates, it's a must for high-functioning offenses, especially against high-pressure teams. Otherwise, a weakness in that area tips off opponents that they can confuse and pick on protecting backs. They'll win certain third downs before the ball is even snapped.

But with Barkley, there should be no need to worry. At least for Penn State, that is.

3. Red zone struggles a potential concern

Pumping our brakes on the positive for a moment, here's an area that plagued the Lions a year ago and shouldn't cause concern yet, but demand eyeballs.

Scoring two touchdowns on five red-zone trips, Penn State denied itself a chance to lock up the opener far earlier than it did, while combating similar issues from 2015: Inability to win the line of scrimmage and sloppy execution.

Most everyone should recall McSorley rushing a first-down throw to a wide-open Mike Gesicki in the second quarter.

From there, a six-yard loss stemmed from two pulling Lion guards failing to become blocking guards and then Chris Godwin committed clear-cut pass interference on an overthrow.

Later, in the third quarter, McSorley fumbled while sprinting to his right on fourth-and-one, yielding a turnover on downs. And then Penn State kicked another field goal thanks to a combination of tough defense and listless offense.

The good news is the play-calling creativity has improved, as actually seen on that most recently mentioned drive. The Lions had twice executed a counter run with a pulling tackle while nearing Kent State's 20-yard line and then called for a play-action fake utilizing the same design as they drove in again.

The pass went incomplete, but only due to blanket coverage on Chris Godwin, who ran a jerk route along the goal line.

While defensive victories are bound to happen and I can't underscore enough how small a red-zone sample this is, there may be one prolonged problem: the shuffling of their guards. Wendy Laurent saw most of the second-half snaps at left guard in place of starter Ryan Bates and was one of the pulling linemen who missed on that first unsuccessful red-zone trip. Connor McGovern also saw action at right guard, unseating first-teamer Derek Dowrey.

Since the Lions strayed from their base run, the inside zone, and opted for more man-blocking schemes closer to the end zone, those guards become even more critical. And if they're unable to secure blocks, the running game becomes unglued along with any success inside the red-zone.

Again, no one's calling for red flags here. Just keep a yellow one handy for a couple weeks.

Special Teams

Most weeks, Tale of the Tape will not include a special teams section. The reason has nothing to do with importance or game impact, rather the TV broadcast of these games does not offer enough to draw significant conclusions about special teams play.

That said, clearly Penn State's special teams performed at a much higher level than they did for the majority of 2015. And even with its youth at key specialist positions, you can safely expect some form of improvement to live on this fall.

The McSorley File

Each week, I'll provide an updated look at McSorley's progression in his first season as a starter. In the chart below, you'll find a breakdown of his throws by area of the field. The yards listed are those accumulated by each pass, but the throws have been placed in each square by yardage covered in the air. Further down are his stats against different rushers.

3-man rushes: 1-2, 5 yards

4-man rushes: 8-15, 113 yards

5-man rushes: 5-10, 70 yards, TD

6-man rushes: 2-4, 21 yards, TD

7-man rushes: 0-0

GIF of the Week

Uh ... did you miss the opening?

Well, just in case, here's Joey Julius again, demonstrating exactly how to shatter a kick returner's self-esteem.

2-minute Drill

Malik Golden played an outstanding game. I'd be surprised if he or Marcus Allen miss any more snaps in favor of back-ups moving forward. Those are two well-rounded safeties.

Speaking of safeties, he played only 14 snaps, but this was not Troy Apke's best film.

Was a bit surprised to see no returner back for Kent State's missed 54-yard field goal near the end of the first half.