Film Study - Penn State Run D vs. Michigan

[CaliLION79]

PSU RUN D FILM STUDY

See Link. Obvious topic considering what happened last year...for the most part, it felt like the issues from 2022 -- getting pushed up front, second-level guys not filling gaps when pullers and motion creating new/extra gaps -- were corrected. Couple busts (Elsdon, surprise surprise) and getting out-schemed a few times on 3rd Down in Prowler.

 

[okinburg1]

It just baffles me why Elsdon continues to see meaningful snaps on D. Guy should be a special teams player only.

 

[LemonEars]

It just baffles me why Elsdon continues to see meaningful snaps on D. Guy should be a special teams player only.

Elsdon is a fine young man who needs to realize he doesn't have the athletic ability to play at this level. He needs to jump into the portal and move to a school like Bucknell, Bloomsburg, pitt, Toledo, etc. Otherwise, he should go back to Frackville and sell insurance while becoming a high school coach.

 

[ram2020]

Thanks for this, awesome as always. While there were defensive breakdowns and loss of contain, I thought the defense was way improved. With Michigan's size and their ability, unlike ours, to make in game adjustments in the run game....just seems so hard to expect them not to break a few. The best defense would have been offense on Saturday.

 

[wilbury]

Didn't point out the egregious hold on 89 on Corum's run around the end. If that doesn't happen, Deluca has outside contain and Carter is in the right position.

 

[Trose75]

To echo the previous elsdon points, does James's defensive rotations get substantially tighter in bigger games? Because it doesn't seem like it. Like why is zuriah fisher getting any snaps when you have 3 future nfl first rounders at defensive end (fyi I think fisher is decent too)

 

[gogolion]

Elsdon is a fine young man who needs to realize he doesn't have the athletic ability to play at this level.

I think it's the coaches who need to realize that and not give him meaningful playing time in critical games

 

[lazydave841]

Biggest takeaways for me in rewatching a lot of this:

1. Abdul Carter is a good LB, not yet great. When he fills, it's great. Good tackling, punched a ball out that we NEEDED to recover. On his misses, we gave up big plays. The Corum run, he stayed inside when he should have been outside. The 3rd down blitz, puller essentially trap blocked him.

He's also trending towards Micah stand up DE size. Think he needs to add 10 or lose 10. Go one way or the other.

2. Elsdon is a complete liability in the middle. Poor tackling. Poor reads. Slow reactions. As @bison13 said, convert him to FB or time to move on in '24.

3. DL improvement was obvious. Must find a replacement for Ellies in the portal for '24. Izzard will return, but he doesn't seem to be quite as good. Would like to see Artis and Blanding here late for some reps. VDB just doesn't look like he's ever going to be anything beyond garbage time unless he breaks through next year.

 

[RickinDayton]

Didn't point out the egregious hold on 89 on Corum's run around the end. If that doesn't happen, Deluca has outside contain and Carter is in the right position.

Jack Ham mentioned in the broadcast that not only that play but during several plays, #89 was getting away with holding.

 

[bison13]

Jack Ham mentioned in the broadcast that not only that play but during several plays, #89 was getting away with holding.

All fu6kin day

 

[ryoder1]

That screen on I think 3rd and 8 which was like a run just killed us. They caught us blitzing and we then were totally outnumbered.

 

[lazydave841]

That screen on I think 3rd and 8 which was like a run just killed us. They caught us blitzing and we then were totally outnumbered.

If you think back on the number of 3rd and 10+ conversions we give up to teams running just because they were resigned to punting, it was a great plan to get us spread out and just run at the smaller lineup. We ran right through the gaps and they just picked the open one.

Last year, we knew Manny needed to evolve and make us tougher vs the run. The next step is to be more flexible with the reckless blitzing and be in position for those 3rd downs better.

Another issue this year was the lack of turnovers generated, particularly in our losses. That's the lifeblood of this defense.

 

[ryoder1]

If you think back on the number of 3rd and 10+ conversions we give up to teams running just because they were resigned to punting, it was a great plan to get us spread out and just run at the smaller lineup. We ran right through the gaps and they just picked the open one.

Last year, we knew Manny needed to evolve and make us tougher vs the run. The next step is to be more flexible with the reckless blitzing and be in position for those 3rd downs better.

Another issue this year was the lack of turnovers generated, particularly in our losses. That's the lifeblood of this defense.

The 3rd and 10 they converted with McCarthy running to the right was also pivotal. Could have gotten the ball back up 3-0. They sealed us off completely on that side. I think a lot of their big running plays happened because we were thinking pass and not screen either.

I agree on the turnovers. We are not forcing many. We needed to recover that fumble we caused early to disrupt the flow of the game, steal a possession and potentially convert to at least 3 points. That could have been huge at that juncture. Conversely, Allar's fumble was another back breaker and for whatever reason from that point on we had no pulse on offense. Not that we had a juggernaut O before it but we were moving the ball to open the 3rd quarter before the fumble.

 

[WaffleShopper]

Here is another video looking at four of the biggest running plays for Michigan and why they occurred. As mentioned countless times, it's not easy to watch when we have players that repeatedly hurt the team get playing time in big games.

These four Michigan runs killed Penn State

 

[lazydave841]

Here is another video looking at four of the biggest running plays for Michigan and why they occurred. As mentioned countless times, it's not easy to watch when we have players that repeatedly hurt the team get playing time in big games.

These four Michigan runs killed Penn State

Great video. 114 ish yards on those 4 plays. 40% of their production.

 

[wilbury]

Jack Ham mentioned in the broadcast that not only that play but during several plays, #89 was getting away with holding.

Didn't hear the broadcast but I saw three really bad holds by 89 that went uncalled. All three on critical plays that could have stalled scoring drives. He was basically the player of the game.

 

[gogolion]

Deluca was definitely held on the 2nd play. The commentator is saying he needed to stay outside and you can see he was trying to go outside but was prevented from doing so by a hold. It would be nice to see a different angle of that play.

 

[Psubiomed]

Elsdon is a fine young man who needs to realize he doesn't have the athletic ability to play at this level. He needs to jump into the portal and move to a school like Bucknell, Bloomsburg, pitt, Toledo, etc. Otherwise, he should go back to Frackville and sell insurance while becoming a high school coach.

I still can't forget Dan Biondi going to Coach Paterno and removing himself from the Sugar Bowl in the 3rd quarter: it's one of the reasons we won that game.