Quick Hitters: Early breakdown and initial thoughts on Penn State

The Indiana football program heads back on the road for its matchup against Penn State on Saturday.

Sitting at 2-5 and winless in the Big Ten, Indiana looks to stop the bleeding following two blowout losses.

Penn State is 6-1 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions are coming off their first loss of the season against Ohio State.

Here are some early thoughts on Penn State and the matchup.

This ain’t getting any easier for Rod Carey and the Indiana football offense. Just two weeks after facing one of the top defenses in the country in yards and scoring, IU will now go on the road again against the top defense. Penn State is giving up just 3.7 yards per play — one of just two FBS schools to allow under 4.0 — has allowed the second fewest touchdowns all season (8) and leads the nation in yardage defense, allowing just 218.1 yards per game. Penn State also leads the nation with 29 sacks this year. It has been 11 consecutive quarters since Penn State gave up points at home. It will be another very difficult game for the Indiana offense. Will it be able to move the ball against the Nittany Lions?

Banged up Indiana secondary vs steady, but not explosive PSU passing game. Indiana has gone against some explosive passing offenses this season but Penn State will not be one of them. It will, however, be very steady. Drew Allar comes in averaging just 6.5 yards per attempt, eight in the Big Ten, and no wide receiver in the top 28 in yards per catch. But, Allar has 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season. The Indiana defense has lost Noah Pierre for ‘an extended period of time and gone through injuries with Phillip Dunnam as well. Both players are critical to the secondary unit. It’ll be an even younger group on Saturday with Amare Farrell, Jordan Grier and Bryson Bonds aiming to play an extended period of spans. If Indiana can continue to limit Penn State like most teams have through the explosive passing game, there may be a positive correlation with the IU front seven and some potential pressure in the backfield.

Indiana needs to win 1st and 2nd downs. This isn’t rocket science, but Indiana needs to be better in third down situations and that starts on the first two plays of the drive. After going 2-of-11 last weekend, Indiana is now a combined 13-of-43 in the last three games. Tom Allen strongly emphasized on Monday the need to be better on third down, but it likely won’t show up against Penn State. The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten, and rank fifth in the nation, with an opponent average of 28.3 percent on third down opportunities. Indiana isn’t going to win third-and-long battles against the defense of Penn State, but if it can get into third-and three type situations, it could go a long way in helping Indiana avoid three-and-outs that it’s all to accustomed too at the moment.

Penn State’s dominant run game. While the passion attack isn’t extremely explosive for Penn State, its rushing attack definitely is. On the season, it has totaled 1,269 yards on the ground with 17 touchdowns. The duo of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton are among the top 1-2 combos in the country. Singleton has 410 yards with a 4.2 yard per carry average while Allen has 401 yards on 4.6 yards per carry. As a team, they average 181.3 yards per game and have the seventh most rushing touchdowns in the country. Allen has the only 100+ yard game between the two lead backs, but Singleton is the more consistent and versatile player out of the backfield. Allen hasn’t received 10+ carries in the last three games while Singleton has two of his three highest attempted games in that same span. Indiana’s front seven needs to do a good job limiting both players to under that 4.0 yard per carry mark and force Penn State into more third-down passing situations, something it has struggled with at times this season.

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